Small Problems Version 2
by Whymsical
Summary: England, fed up with America once again, makes a potion to turn him tiny. It works, and America is shrunk down for a week. Let the fun begin. Second version of 'Small Problems'. Rated T for language.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N**: This is in the same universe as the Version 1, so the beginning, up to the actual spell working, is the same as the other story. (If you didn't read the other one, that's fine, it's not necessary to know what's going on, but you're missing out on some tiny Iggy action!) So if you want to, you can skip to around the middle-ish part of this chapter.

Without further ado, enjoy!

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Arthur dropped the final ingredient into the simmering clear potion. The lock of blond hair fell from his palm and disappeared with a soft plop.

"Finally, America, you'll see." he muttered to himself as he heaved the pot off of the flame and set it down on the cool stone floor of his basement. He then went upstairs and grabbed the old-looking phone off of its hook. He dialed, and waited for someone to pick up.

Alfred whipped out his phone, quickly throwing it in between his shoulder and ear as he started to madly press on the buttons of his Xbox. "Y'eeeeeeeello?" he replied, as an explosion sounded loudly in the background.

"Alfred, at least greet someone properly over the phone if you cannot do it in person!" Arthur snapped.

"What!? Dude, i said 'hi,' what else 'ya want?!" Another explosion sounded, and some gunshots as Alfred cursed loudly.

Pinching his nose, Arthur took a deep breath. "Would you like to come over for a drink?" he asked as calmly as he could.

The game immediately went on pause. "What?"

"Would. You. Like. To come over. For a drink?" Arthur repeated, slower this time.

Alfred was silent for a moment before snickering and restarting the game. "IF your talkin' alcohol, then no, I don't wanna drag you home again like last time."

"I- Y-You did not drag me home! I was perfectly fine!" Arthur sputtered. He took a moment to compose himself. "But no, I don't mean alcohol. I was thinking tea and...Coffee." He spat the word out like he would get a fatal disease just from saying it.

"Coffee? No way, whata 'ya planning England?" Alfred asked, furiously clicking at the buttons. "There is no way you have coffee at your house. You threw my Starbucks out the window last time I came with it!"

Arthur froze for a second. "I'm not planning anything!" he snapped. "And what the hell would you know about my coffee stores?"

Alfred pursed his lips. "That they suck. But 'kay, I'll come! See ya in a bit!" he hung up, snickering.

"Why you-" Arthur realized he was talking to a dead phone and hung it back on its hook, cursing.

He poured the cooled, clear potion into a bottle and placed it onto a cupboard. He started making preparations for tea and coffee, and waited for a certain idiot to come around.

Alfred pursed his lips as he got up and started to get ready, pulling on a different shirt, one with a big obnoxious white eagle and the words 'UNTIED STATES OF AMERICA, FUCK YEAH!' on it. He grabbed a sweatshirt and made his way to Arthur's house. When he got there, he sighed when he found the door locked, but decided he was too lazy to use the side door or the window. After a moment he decided against it again, and made his way to the kitchen window, where he saw Arthur doing something.

"YOYOYOYOYOYOYOYOYOYO, YO IGGY OPEN UP!" he yelled, banging on the glass.

Arthur nearly dropped his favorite teapot. He set it gently down on the table. "Bloody hell-" He stalked over to the window and yanked it open. "It's Arthur, you idiot! And wait by the front door." He slammed it shut and walked to the front door, unlocking it.

Alfred didn't move from his spot as he pursed his lips. "I WANNA GO THROUGH THE WINDOW, LEMME IN IGGY! I WANNA BE LIKE JAMES BOND!"

Arthur leaned out or the door and shot him a dark glare. "How old are you?! AND IT'S ARTHUR, DAMNIT!"

"C'mon England, it'll be fun! And I forgot how to open the window from the outside, c'mon!"

Arthur facepalmed, but then put on a brilliant smile and closed the door. _'A few more bloody minutes...you can last that long, right Arthur?' _he asked himself before unlocking the window and stepping back from it.

"Awesome!" Alfred ignored the sudden nice gesture. He grabbed the window sill and pulled himself up, then threw himself into the house, falling onto the floor before he exploded laughing.

Arthur stared down at him, one eyebrow raised. "Are you quite done with that idiocy?"

Alfred slowly muffled his laugh, looking up at him. "What, it was totally fun! You should try it!"

"I think not. Pick yourself off the floor, you look an utter mess!" Arthur said. _'Besides, this may be your last chance in a while to be taller than me...'_ he added in his thoughts.

Alfred laughed, turning onto his stomach as his cheek touched the cold floor. "Gaaah, but it feels niceeeeeeeee, can I just stay here?"

Arthur felt a sudden urge to plant a foot on Alfred's back and make him beg, but he shoved it down. "You didn't come here to lie on my floor. So get up, Alfred"

"Help me up, Artie." He didn't move in the slightest.

"You can do it yourself."

Alfred pouted, and grabbed his leg, pulling himself up into a sitting position.

Arthur almost let out a yelp as he nearly went down, but somehow managed to hold in the noise and keep his footing. "You idiot, at least give some WARNING if you're going to do that!"

Alfred looked up at him, and snickered. "'Kay Iggy- WHOOP, WARNING~!" he yelled before grabbing his arm and hoisting himself completely up.

Arthur went down this time, landing hard on his side. "Fucking- IT'S ARTHUR!" He climbed to his feet, still cursing.

The other nation laughed, patting him on the back. "Mhm, okay Artie, whatever you say~!"

Arthur jerked away, scowling. "Don't touch me." He walked over to the counter. "You want tea or coffee?" he asked, already knowing what the answer was.

"Coffee," Alfred replied, ignoring how obvious it was. "So, why'd you call me here?"

"Just wanted to drink with someone." Arthur shrugged.

He poured water into a kettle and set it onto the stove. He always used bottled water instead of tap water, so it was the simplest thing to slip the potion into the kettle.

"Is it cuz you have no friends, England?" Alfred snickered, getting into his seat.

"I-I have plenty of friends, git!" Arthur stayed facing away from Alfred, so the American wouldn't see his red face.

Alfred pursed his lips with a smirk. "Whatever you say man," he replied, leaning against the back of the chair and staring up at the ceiling.

"Shut up, it's true!"

The kettle began whistling, so Arthur took it off and prepared the drinks. He set the mug of coffee none too gently down before Alfred and took his own seat across from him.

"Thanks." Alfred took the mug of coffee and immediately drank from it, nearly drinking the entire thing. He then placed it back down. "So, wassup man?"

Arthur smirked slightly as Alfred placed the cup down, then took a sip of his own tea. "Well, it's about to get interesting."

Arthur's smirk grew wider. "Nothing, Alfred." he said innocently. "Absolutely nothing."

Alfred was about to ask him again when the mug dropped out of his hand with a clang. It rolled on its edges for a moment before standing straight. His eyes widened when he suddenly couldn't see anything at all except for a cloud of smoke. When his vision cleared he could see again, but all he saw was the chair towering above him. "Holy fucking shit." he squeaked stepping back.

Arthur laughed before getting out of his chair and walking towards Alfred's. "Alfred, are you there?"

Alfred moved back, closer to the chair so Arthur wouldn't step on him. "YOU JACKASS, WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS!?" he yelled at him, hoping he would hear him, at least the cursing.

Arthur knelt down before him. "You know, you're quite cute when you're small." he said, chuckling. He then reached out and gently patted him on the head.

"Wha- OW! FUCK- Don't touch me!" Alfred smacked Arthur's hand, moving back again. "The hell is this England, is it some kinda magic or something?!"

"This," Arthur said, wrapping his fingers around Alfred's torso and picking him up. "Is revenge." He stood and walked over to the table, but didn't let him go.

"Gah!" Alfred immediately started thrashing around, pushing at Arthur's fingers. "Revenge for what!?" He suddenly got extremely scared when he saw all the kitchen utensils and stove. "Holy shit, please don't tell me you're gonna eat me at least! C'mon England, that's disgusting!"

"I hadn't thought of that..." Arthur brought Alfred a little closer to his face and licked his lips. "But you do look very appetizing." He smirked.

Alfred's eyes went wide. He grew more pale then ever and started thrashing around again. "Shut up, England! Th-That's not funny!" He had his hands on top of Arthur's fingers and was trying hard to push himself up.

Chuckling, Arthur lowered him down to the table again. "I wouldn't eat you. Then I might get infected with your damned hero complex." He shuddered. "As to the reason, take your pick. There's a hell of a lot of them."

Alfred was still trying to get out of his grip. "Okay, well I'm sorry man, okay? Can you turn me back now?!" he asked, ignoring Arthur's first comment.

Arthur tightened his grip slightly. "The potion lasts for a week, so you're stuck this size until then. Best get used to it."

Alfred got paler if that was possible, and cursed as he felt Arthur's grip tighten. "Nonononononono, shiiiiiiit," he cursed, trying getting out again. "Not with YOU being able to do this!" he said, once again trying to wriggle his way out of his grip.

"Quit squirming, you're fine. You'll only hurt yourself if you try to get out." Arthur walked out of the kitchen and up to his bedroom, where he approached the desk. On it sat a silver bird cage.

When Alfred saw it he thrashed around even more, using all his strength to continuously hit Arthur's hand. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no! C'mon England, not that! Bro I'm sorry, legit, c'mon!"

"You don't even know what you're sorry for. And sorry's not enough." Arthur set him down on the desk next to the cage, and placed his arms on either side of him, linking his hands together on the end.

Alfred dropped down, ending up falling down in a sitting position, as he was trapped in between Arthur's hands. "What are you doing? Lemme out England, you can't trap a hero like this!"

Arthur chuckled. "Yes, you look positively heroic in a heap on a desk."

The other's face scrunched up, and he gritted his teeth. "Sh-shut up! Lemme out!"

"No, I don't think I will, my little hero." The last three words were heavy with sarcasm.

Alfred narrowed his eyes, standing up. "You'll regret this when I return to my normal size!"

"If you return to your normal size. I can keep making that potion forever."

Alfred clenched his jaw. "N-No. You'll run out of ingredients. And I'll get away. And it's not an IF statement!"

"Oh, little Alfred." Arthur leaned in close. "I was the greatest Empire ever. Do you really think I would let you get away? And Mint and my fairies can replenish ingredients whenever I need them."

Alfred suddenly smirked, stepping back. "Was."

Arthur's eyes darkened with anger, but also a little sadness. He had to control himself so he wouldn't do anything to actually hurt the little nation. Roughly picking Alfred up, he dropped him into the cage, locked the door to it, suspended it from a hook in the ceiling, and swept from the room, slamming the door behind him.

"OW, SHIT! ENGL-" The door slammed shut on him before he could finish.

Alfred sat up, cursing at himself for being so stupid as he rubbed his head. He stood up, a bit shakily, and walked to the edge of the cage. Calling wouldn't work at all from now on, Arthur might as well have had left him there forever. He used up a minute of his time trying to maybe even bend the bars, but when nothing worked he sat down in defeat.

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**A/N**: A lot of things are going to be the same or similar with the two stories, since it's the same situation but alternate timelines, almost. So, what did you guys think?


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N**: Next chapter! Thanks to all of you who reviwed or favorited or followed this! You're awesome (Just like Prussia)!

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Arthur went back into the kitchen and began to clean up after his and Alfred's 'drinking'. He was breathing heavily as he poured the rest of the potion down the drain and carefully washed out the cups and teapot. It helped him calm down. About half an hour later, he slowly made his way back to his room. He stood in the doorway, listening for some sort of reaction.

Alfred jumped when he heard the noise, and when he looked down to see Arthur he started again, falling back. "Oh SHI-!" He fell down and rubbed his back again, cursing at himself for getting scared. After a moment he stood up and walked over to the edge. "Hey, England, seriously I'm sorry for that man!"

"Are you hurt?" Arthur asked, looking fixedly out the window.

Alfred stared at him. "No..." A moment of silence passed. "Iggy, seriously I'm sorry for that. I didn't mean it."

"It's Arthur, damnit." Arthur muttered, and walked over to the cage. He opened the door and held out a hand to him.

Alfred hesitated before walking onto the tip of his fingers.

Arthur curled his fingers slightly, so Alfred tipped forward onto his palm. He went over to the desk and sat down, suddenly smirking. "And you thought I was mad at you." he chuckled. "You really do look cute that size."

"Wha!? SH-SHADDUP!" Alfred cursed to himself that he let himself fall for it as he tried to run off Arthur's palm.

Arthur gently caught the back of Alfred's sweatshirt between two fingers. "Now where do you think you're going?"

"Shit!" Alfred fell back, his sweatshirt collar momentarily choking him. "Uwah! Lemme go!"

"No, I don't think I will." Arthur tugged him back towards himself. "So, what would you like to do?"

Alfred tried to resist being dragged backwards, although it didn't help at all. "I wanna turn back to normal and beat the shit outta you!" he grumbled, still trying to get out of his grasp.

"Well, that option is closed to you. So what else would you like to do?" Arthur asked sweetly.

"Get out of here!" Alfred growled at him.

Arthur set his face into a pout. "Oh, Alfred, that hurts!" he exclaimed.

Alfred narrowed his eyes at him. "Shut up!" He started to throw punches at his fingers. "Leggo!"

"Cute...pity that doesn't hurt at all." Arthur's eyes suddenly lit up. "Oh, I know! Let's watch a movie! I borrowed this amazing new horror movie from Kiku the other day; I can't wait to see it." His grasp tightened once more around Alfred and he made his way downstairs.

Alfred eyes went wide with fear and he tuned pale again. This time when Arthur had caught him in a hold, he had pinned down one of his arms. "No! NO! England! C'mon! Please not a horror movie, I won't watch it, I won't!" He started to squirm around, still trying to get out of his grip.

"But aren't you the hero? Heroes aren't afraid of anything, you know." Arthur remarked as he moved Alfred to one hand while he put the DVD in.

"I-I'm not afraid! I just don't wanna watch it!"

"You are scared. Don't even deny it."

Alfred glared at him. "I'm a hero and heroes don't get scared!"

"Good, so you'll watch it with me then? Because I get scared easily. I need my little hero to protect me." The words were doused with a heavy dose of sarcasm, all except the first sentence.

Alfred was immediately aware of all the sarcasm floating around those words. "I-I'm not little! I'm just- I'M FUN SIZE!" he replied. "And heroes don't protect the bad guys!" he added, not exactly getting the whole sarcasm part.

"You think I'm the bad guy? Good to know. I'll add that on my resume." Arthur pressed play and got settled on the couch. He placed Alfred on his stomach, and held him down with a hand do that only his head was showing. "Enjoy, little hero."

Alfred struggled against his hand as the movie started. Both his arms were pinned down now. "Dammit England! Why are you doooiinnggg thiisssss?!"

"Why, I want to spend quality time with you!" Arthur said cheerfully.

Alfred was about to respond when something popped out on the screen. He yelped and closed his eyes, going off. "HolyshitI'msorryI'msorryI'msorryIcan'ttake itIcan'tican't, turnitoffturnitoffturnitoffturnitoffnownownownowno wnownowpleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleaseI'msorr y!"

"That doesn't sound very hero-like to me." Arthur commented.

"SHUTUP! I'MTOTALLYAHERO! ITJUSTSURPRISEDME, OKAY!?"

For the remainder of the movie, Alfred would yelp and bury his head in Arthur's fingers before slowly moving his head back up again. Once, when he slowly opened his eyes for a peek, a bloody zombie's face took up the entire screen.

"HOLYFUCK!" From there on, he would not open his eyes for ANYTHING.

Before the end of the movie, Arthur took pity on him and turned the movie off. "What do you want to watch?" he asked, lifting his hand slightly.

Alfred found it easier to breathe, but he didn't open his eyes. "Not that not that not that!"

"Fine, I won't put it on. I still have all those movies you left at my house from your various visits; we could watch one of those."

Alfred slowly opened his eyes to see the blank screen and he sighed, before moving around a bit, to fix his position. "Um...I dunno, whatever you want I guess."

Arthur wrapped his fingers around his small body again and carried him to the shelf where his movies were. "Just pick one."

Alfred stared at them. "Are they horror movies put in kid movie DVD cases?"

"No. I've not touched them since you left them." Arthur touched one case, that said 'Captain America' on it. "What about this one?"

Alfred brightened up immediately. "Holy shit, yeah!"

"Alright." He slid the DVD into the player and settled back down in his previous position, with Alfred still on his stomach. During the opening credits, he stifled a yawn.

Alfred looked up: "You getting tired, old man?"

"Not a chance." Arthur murmured. He was, though. He'd been up almost the entire night finishing the potion. Within five minutes, he was asleep. His arm relaxed and slid off of Alfred.

When Arthur's hand slid off him, Alfred was home free. Problem was, he couldn't drive nor go anywhere in the darkness and in that state. He managed to find the remote, which was on the other end of the couch. He turned the movie off and went back to lay on Arthur's stomach, using his shirt as a blanket, even rolling it up for himself. He had it all planned out to wake up earlier than Arthur and get away, and he repeated it in his head before he fell asleep.

Arthur had shifted slightly during the night, ending up lying down on the couch. Alfred was still on his stomach, and luckily he was unhurt. His hand had draped itself over him again, but it wasn't pinning him down anymore. It was kind of just laying on top of him, like a blanket.

Alfred slowly blinked to see a hand over him. He got alarmed and scrambled up, to see Arthur was still asleep. He rubbed his eyes, and started to climb up his shirt to his shoulder, and he poked him, to check if he wasn't faking. Arthur merely moaned slightly in his sleep and turned over onto his side.

"FUCK!" Alfred yelled. He fell onto the couch cushion, and groaned. "Oh damn." He got up again and climbed up to his shoulder again. He saw it happen in movies, and he wanted to try it, although at the same time he wasn't thinking whether or not he might wake him up. "Eeeeeeennggglllaaaaanndddddd, this is the...uhhh, ghost of...um...the past talkin'! You gotta turn Allfreedddd backk tooo noorrrmmaaaaalllllll aaannddd sttuufffff, goootttt iiittt?" he said, dragging his voice out.

Through Arthur's dream world came an annoying sound. It sounded kind of like an idiotic American. The voice shattered his lovely dream, involving unicorns, and he began to wake up.

"Shut the hell up, Alfred." he muttered, sloppily reaching out with a hand and trying to grab him.

"Uwah!" Alfred stumbled and fell right into his hand by accident. He hadn't expected Arthur to answer, especially since the Brit's eyes were still closed.

Feeling the weight of the small person, Arthur closed his hand and pulled it back to him. "Go...back to sleep now..." he mumbled and tried to get back to his dream.

Alfred immediately started to struggle again as he was pulled back to Arthur. "Leggo, leggo!" His plan with getting away just got scratched.

Arthur's eyes opened briefly and focused on Alfred. "Shut. Up. I'm tryin' a sleep..." His voice slurred slightly as he brought his index finger up and covered Alfred's mouth with it. He closed his eyes again.

Alfred kept yelling things as his mouth was covered. He tried, unsuccessfully, to move his head to allow his muffled shouts to become more clear, but it wasn't working at all. He still struggled as Arthur was falling asleep

Arthur meanwhile slowly realized that he wasn't going to get any more sleep. When he did, his eyes shot open and he fixed Alfred with a death glare that could freeze a melting glacier and might even be able to stop global warming. "What. Do. You. Want?" He removed his finger from Alfred's mouth, but tightened his grip on his body, leaving him with no room to struggle or squirm.

Alfred gritted his teeth when he found he couldn't move in the slightest, and looked up at him. "Well food'd be good. And for you to change me back, or lemme go home and not, like, pull revenge off or whatever."

Arthur laughed harshly. "Hah, I'd love to see you survive out there in this state." he said, gesturing to the window. He got up slowly, stretched, and began heading to the kitchen.

Alfred still tried to move, his head twisting around as he tried to get free. He didn't say anything, and as they entered the kitchen he realized Arthur might put him down to make the breakfast. So he slowly ceased all movement and waited.

Arthur dropped Alfred into a pocket in his shirt as he contemplated the refrigerator. After a moment, he got all the necessary ingredients for making scones.

Alfred nearly suffocated as he was placed inside. "Hey! Not cool, man!" He started moving around, hitting Arthur's side. "Lemme out!" he yelled as he tried even climbing out of the pocket, but he was once again unsuccessful.

Ignoring Alfred completely, Arthur went on and made the batter for the scones and put them in the oven. He made his way to the table and finally deposited Alfred on the smooth surface.

Alfred fell onto his back with a grunt before he rubbed his head and scrambled up, immediately looking to try to choose a part of the table to run to, away from Arthur.

"I wouldn't encourage jumping, the fall would seriously injure, if not kill, even you." Arthur said and leaned back in the chair. He watched Alfred, a smirk on his face.

Alfred turned and glared at him, and ran over to the edge, looking at the long drop. He gulped, and stepped back to look at the chair that was there, it looking to be less of a distance away, and he started to consider trying it.

"Do that, and you'll just get stuck on the chair. Even if you do managed to get down safely, you'll still be trapped in my house unless I let you out, or the potion wears off."

Alfred turned to glare at him again. "Sooooooooo? Then you won't get your revenge or whatever!" He looked down again. "Plus I'm a hero, I'll figure something out!"

Arthur's grin got wider. "Oh, but I'm already getting my revenge. This," He reached over and grabbed Alfred and brought him closer to himself again. "Being part of it. Because there is nothing the great hero can do, can he?"

Alfred clenched his jaw, and started throwing punches at his fingers again, those words shooting him through a bit, him realizing they were true. "Th-that's n-n-not true!" he said, his voice cracking a bit.

"If it wasn't, you'd easily be able to break my hold. But you can't, can you?"

Alfred didn't answer, still trying to break his hold, but he avoided eye contact. Dammit, he hated when the bad guy had the upper hand.

Arthur suddenly released him from his grasp, shot up, and dashed over to the oven. It was too late, though. All that remained of the scones were blackish lumps.

"Bloody hell-" he swore, running a hand through his hair.

Alfred fell onto the table again, and yelped when he did. At first he was a bit dizzy, but it felt better when he turned onto his side. "Ughhhhh gawwwwdddd," He looked at Arthur, who stood over the oven, black smoke coming out from it. He snickered a bit and slowly got up. "I totally broke your hold right there!"

Shooting another glare at him, Arthur wordlessly got up and stalked over to the table. He snatched Alfred up again and made his way to the door. "You want to go home?" he asked scathingly as he threw open the door. "Fine then! But don't come crawling back to me after a cat or spider almost eats you, or you nearly get stepped on." He roughly set him down on his doorstep and slammed to door behind him after he went back inside.

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**A/N**: Oh shit, poor Alfred XD He really has it rough, doesn't he?


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N**: Once again, uploading this now because I won't be home all day tomorrow, and probably won't have access to internet. So enjoy.

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Alfred fell again, and cursed at the door slammed shut behind him, the force of the air making him tumble down some of the steps. He cursed once more, getting up when he realized what Arthur had said. Cats. Spiders. Stepped on. He then realized how screwed he was. He glanced at the door again, knowing Arthur wouldn't help him even if he managed to get his attention, which was even lower on the scale of happening. Alfred stepped over to the edge of the step he was on to look at the next one down. He cursed yet again and jumped. He landed (totally awesomely) on a knee and a leg and one arm, and he fist pumped the air when he didn't break anything.

Only to get hit by the hardest drop of water he had ever felt. He was completely soaked in an instant, and looked up to see more rain come down, and then the sky flash a brilliant blue.

"Shit!" He ran to the side and jumped, to land on a leaf of a bush. He slid off it, safely to the ground, which was slowly turning into goo. He hid under the same leaf, which took the blows of the rain for him, He cursed when his foot slowly started to sink and pulled it up, just to have his other foot start sinking.

Sighing at the peace and quiet now in his house, Arthur had grabbed on of the lumps from the tray and gone to his library, where he had taken down one of his favorite books and curled up on a window seat to read. A flash of lightning lit up the sky in the distance, but he was so absorbed in reading, he didn't notice it.

His head shot up at the sound of rain, though. He immediately began worrying about Alfred, though he told himself he was only worried about his garden. With that in mind, he pulled on a raincoat, grabbed an umbrella, and headed out into the rain. "Hello?" he called out, not moving from the doorstep so he wouldn't accidentally step on Alfred. _'I just want to know if the annoying twat is off my property..._' he told himself as he peered out across his lawn.

"England!" Alfred called from the side of the steps, where he was trying to pull one of his legs out of the mud that was starting to pull him in like quicksand. He hoped the other would hear his weak shout through the loud rain and thunder in the distance, though it seemed unlikely. He waved his arm at him once, hoping it would help, before he sunk another centimeter and focused on getting out.

Arthur did hear the weak shout, but couldn't quite pinpoint where it was coming from. "Alfred?" he asked, getting down on his knees in the mud. "Where are you?"

"I'm right here- dammit!" Alfred wrestled one foot out of the mud, and placed it back down again while he tried to get his other one out.

Arthur finally made out Alfred's form. "There you are!" he said, gently lifting him up from the mud. "Are you okay?" The small nation was in the palm of one hand. The other was holding the umbrella over the both of them.

"Ugh." Alfred fell onto his back on his palm. "I'm fine." He turned his head to look out across the yard which wasn't under the umbrella, realizing how terrified he was moments before. "Um...could you set me like, under the car this time?" he asked, expecting Arthur to still leave him outside.

"No. You're not staying out here." Arthur got to his feet and headed back inside.

"Ohthankgod." Alfred let out a breath of relief, as he stared up. "Did you come out to find me?"

Arthur scoffed. "Of course not, git. I was worried about my garden."

Alfred stared at him before snickering. "Suuuuuuuuuureeeeee, you totally came for me Iggy~! Done with the whole revenge thing?" he replied, standing up, placing his hands on his hips as he looked up at him, trying not to fall over as the other walked.

"I should leave you out here." Arthur growled in response, stopping and kneeling down again.

"Uwah! No, under the car at least- c'mon man!" Alfred fell back onto his palm at the sudden stop and sat up, looking up at the other nation.

Arthur's eyes were hard as emeralds. "Beg."

Alfred froze. "Wh-what?!"

"You heard me. _Beg_ me to take you inside."

Alfred went pale, and fidgeted a bit in his spot. "Th-that's a bad joke, England! You know heroes don't do that!"

"Oh, but I'm not joking." Arthur shook his hand a little. "Now beg."

Alfred grabbed at it in order to not fall off. "H-Heroes don't beg dammit!"

Arthur pushed him off with little effort. "Enjoy your time out here, then."

Alfred fell onto the concrete. "Ow!" he yelped, rubbing his head again. He didn't even need to think about the thunder or big drops of water. "P-Please!"

"What was that?" Arthur really hadn't heard Alfred's voice that well over the rain.

Alfred huffed. "PLEASE DAMMIT!"

Arthur thought it over for a moment. Then he scooped up Alfred and entered the house. He went to the living room and deposited him on the coffee table there. "Stay here." he said as he went upstairs to change.

Alfred yelped when he was dropped onto the table again, but he lay there, not wanting to move. His cheeks were a bit red from having had to beg, although Arthur had let him off from actually begging intensively. He just lay there, breathing hard, too tired from trying to free himself from the mud to care to move.

When Arthur came down five minutes later, in a fresh change of clothes, he tossed a clean dishtowel on top of Alfred so he could clean himself off and get dry, then sat down comfortably on the couch.

"Shit!" Alfred scrambled up, and started kicking at the piece of cloth that covered all of him. He blindly tried to pull and kick it off. After a few moments of doing so, he fell, most of the towel just falling on top of him again. He groaned, and tried to pull it off again so he could see.

Before he fully realized what he was doing, Arthur leaned forward, grasped the towel, and began gently cleaning and drying Alfred off. The moment he did realize his actions, he froze and threw down the towel again. He turned away from the tiny nation and closed his eyes, leaning back against the couch again.

"Uwah!" Alfred was rolled out of the towel, and he squirmed the whole while Arthur was dabbing at him with it. Out of nowhere the towel landed on top of him again, and he started thrashing around in it. "Hey, what was that?!" He got up and started dragging one side of the towel until he managed to pull it off himself and took a deep breath of air.

"That was nothing. Clean yourself off, you look like a drowned rat."

Alfred pursed his lips, narrowing his eyes at Arthur before grabbing the edge of the towel and pulling it back and forth through his hair, ruffling it up a lot, before he wrapped himself in the towel and plopped down.

"And now you look like a drowned rat in a towel."

Alfred stuck his tongue out at him. "I don't!" He pulled the towel through his hair again, and re-wrapped himself in it. He then stood, holding the two corners by his neck. "England look at my awesome cape!"

Arthur opened his eyes and glanced at Alfred. "It's too big for you."

"No it isn't! A hero needs a big cape, it'll totally make me fly faster and stuff!"

"Oh, so you think you can fly?"

Alfred looked at him. "I do! I have my own badass superhero plane!"

Arthur looked around the room. "Where is it? I see a distinct lack of plane in here."

"Shaddup! It's at my house! But I could still fly!"

"Of course you can, Alfred." Arthur said sarcastically.

Alfred jumped up and down. "Hell yeah I can!" He stretched his arms out, and turned, running down the table before circling around, and tripping on the towel. He fell onto it with a thud. "Oooow…"

Arthur immediately leaned forward, his brow furrowing with concern. "Alfred?"

"Yeaaaaaaah?" Alfred asked, looking up at him.

"Nothing." Arthur said, leaning back abruptly.

Alfred didn't look away. "Well, either way, I can fly! And I don't think, I know so!"

"You can't fly."

"Yes I can!"

"Would you like to test that?"

"What?! I don't need to I already know!"

"You just don't want to do it because you know you cannot fly."

"What?! Hell no, course I can!"

"Then prove it." Arthur stood, placed Alfred into his hand, and raised him high into the air. "Fly."

Alfred looked down. "Um...I can't do it when I'm this small, man!"

"You just keep on making up excuses." Arthur replied, lowering Alfred down again.

Alfred didn't move. "No! If I was normal size I would totes do it! I can't now, like," He looked down again, the distance smaller. "I'm too small and stuff!" He then pouted, sitting down. "You can't make me anyways!"

"Can't I?" Arthur raised an eyebrow and tilted his hand slightly so that Alfred began sliding off.

"GAH, SHIT!" Alfred grabbed his finger, struggling to keep himself up. "Not cool, England!"

Arthur flipped his hand completely over, but had his other one underneath, ready to catch him. "You cannot fly." he said, a smirk on his face.

Alfred struggled to climb onto his hand, one of his arms wrapped around his fingers, but when the position changed he slid down a bit more and cursed. He couldn't pull himself up. After a few more seconds he cursed again, letting go and dropping into his other hand. "I want to though!"

Arthur shrugged. "We all want things."

"Yeah, but that'd be cool! And hero-like!"

"Yes, but you would look like an idiot instead of a hero."

"What!? No! Why the hell would I look like an idiot!?" Alfred stood up on Arthur's palm, staring up at him.

"Because you are an idiot."

Alfred's cheeks flushed and he stared at him. "Fuck you, I am not!"

"Nope. And yes you are." He was smirking again.

"Wha- shut up! I'm not, dammit!" He kicked at Arthur's thumb.

"Yes you are. Did you really think that would hurt me?"

Alfred cursed at him some more. "I'm not a fucking idiot! Shut up, England!"

"Yes you bloody are!" Arthur snapped back at him, his voice rising in volume.

Alfred gritted his teeth. "I. Am. Not." he growled back, towel having dropped away from him.

"Yes you are. Everyone thinks so."

Alfred shut up, staring at him. He wished right then and there he was normal size so he could run out the door. He turned, jumping off Arthur's hand and onto the table, and then onto the ground, not even caring about the distance anymore. He could have yelled back, said something else, but he couldn't choke anything out as tears started welling up in his eyes.

Arthur froze. "A-Alfred?" He got off the couch and onto the floor. "Alfred I-" The words got stuck in his throat, but he forced them out. "I was out of turn when I said that. I should not have done so."

Alfred was already underneath the couch by the time he got off. He choked back tears, as he sat down by the wall, hugging his knees. "Noit'sfine, Imeanit'strueright?" he croaked out, burying his head in his arms. Fuck. He hated words sometimes.

Arthur sighed. "Alfred, while it is true that you can act a bit immature sometimes, and your choices aren't always the best ones, you are by no means stupid or an idiot." He lay on his stomach, searching for Alfred's form in the darkness.

Alfred didn't move. "Shut up, don't lie."

"I'm not lying Alfred." He paused for a moment. "I envy you sometimes, you know." He finally found Alfred, and his eyes focused on him.

Alfred stopped sniffling for a moment. "What?"

"Please come out." Arthur reached a hand out to him and waited. He couldn't touch the American, his arm was too short, but he hoped Alfred would walk to him.

Alfred didn't move, staring at the outstretched arm. "No. I'm fine here."

Arthur strained forward even more, and cursed softly when Alfred was still out of reach. "I said please. I don't say please to anyone. Come out, Alfred."

Alfred still didn't move. "What'd you mean earlier?"

Arthur sighed. "You are able to be friendly with everyone, and everyone likes you." He shrugged. "It's an enviable quality."

Alfred was silent for a moment. "Thanks. I guess..." He still stared at the hand before scooting a bit forward, so that he touched the tip of Arthur's fingers.

Arthur strained forward once more, pushing against the couch with all his strength until he was able to wrap his fingers around Alfred and pull him slowly out. "Thank you." he said, looking everywhere but at him. He shifted uncomfortably, but didn't get up off of the floor. He opened his hand to allow him to get out if he wanted to.

Alfred didn't move, letting himself be pulled out, and he didn't move when Arthur opened his hand. Instead he leaned back, wanting him to wrap his fingers around him again, for some reason it being a lot warmer than when they were opened.

Arthur finally glanced down at him, surprised he hadn't booked it out of his hand the moment he had the chance. "Well...what do you want to do?" he asked hesitantly.

Alfred shrugged. "Dunno-" A flash of lightning turned the lights off for a moment, and Alfred yelped, jumping as the lights turned back on.

Arthur tightened his hold on Alfred instinctively. "Silly ghosts, always messing around." he said lightly.

Alfred moved back, closer to his hand. "Shuddup Iggy, that's not funny!" he yelled, closing his eyes. "Are they gone!?"

Arthur couldn't help smiling down at him. "Yeah. They're all gone now."

"If you're lying I'll kill you," Alfred squeaked, slowly opening his eyes. When he saw nothing, he let out a sign of relief.

"Oh, I'm very afraid of you killing me. Absolutely terrified."

"You better be! Cuz this hero is too badass for you!" He looked up, narrowing his eyes.

"Of course you are." Arthur was in no mood to repeat their argument.

Ha! Wai-" Alfred stared at him, not believing he admitted it. But he chose to ignore it, and instead sighed, closing his eyes. "I'm hungry Iggy."

"I only have the scones from before..."

Alfred groaned. "That's it?! Can't you order a pizza or something?"

"No. I could make something else, if you want. Besides, how would you even eat pizza?"

Um...I would...rip pieces and eat it?" Alfred then pouted, groaning. "But what if you'll burn that tooooooooo?"

"S-Shut up! I don't burn everything!"

"Yeah you do!"

"I do not, you wanker!"

Alfred waited a moment before sticking his tongue out. "You do, you do! You burnt the scones when you were tormenting me too!"

"That's because you distracted me!"

"I wasn't distracting you; you were tormenting me when I tried to get away!"

"I was not tormenting you. But either way it's your fault!"

"No it wasn't! YOU were making them and YOU burnt them!" He struggled a bit in Arthur's grasp. "Yes you were! And ordering a pizza would be waaaay easier!"

Arthur immediately relaxed his fingers, allowing Alfred a way out. "I am not ordering that disgusting, oil-covered monstrosity. And I wouldn't have burned them if you had just stayed quiet!"

Alfred stepped down onto the floor, so he was standing right in front of him. "It's not oil covered that's cheese! You would know if you could cook! And it's totally good! And yes you would have, I wasn't being loud! You put me in your pocket!"

Arthur poked him, placing his other hand behind him to catch him just in case. "I can cook! You just don't have the bloody taste buds to appreciate it! And for the last time, I am not ordering pizza!"

Alfred fell back into his hand again. "Nope you can't! I do have taste buds! And if you won't order a pizza, get Chinese food!"

"I am not ordering anything! I'll show you how well I can cook!" With that, Arthur marched off to the kitchen, Alfred in his hand.

"England! Just order something!"

Arthur clenched his teeth. "No. I will cook something, and it will turn out good!" he snapped.

Alfred struggled in his grip. "Whyyyyyyyyyyyy?! You might burn down the house, ordering is safer!"

Arthur fixed him with a glare. "Shut up. I will cook." He set Alfred down on the table and began gathering the ingredients for fish and chips.

Alfred moved around the table the entire time, pushing off anything Arthur placed down. "Order a pizza! Or Chinese! Or sushi! It'll be faster!"

Arthur simply began placing things on the countertop instead of the table. "No. I can cook!"

"Noooooooooo you caaaaaaan't! Artie, the house will BLOW UP!"

Getting annoyed, Arthur scooped him up and dropped him into a jar. The top had holes in it so Alfred could breathe, but it muted his voice almost completely. "I. Can. Cook."

Alfred fell into the jar, immediately cursing as he landed. "ENGLAND! LEMME OUT! YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO PUT THE HERO HERE! ENGLAND! YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO DO THIS!" he yelled, loud enough for Arthur to hear him, as he started pounding on the side of the jar at his smirking face.

"Don't tell me about rights! You wanted a meal, and I'm making you one. Be happy you're getting at least that!" Arthur snapped.

"YOU HAVETA FEED ME! And you can't do whatever you want to me! Let me out! England!" He kept hitting the glass, not that it helped in the slightest.

Arthur knocked the jar aside with his hand so that it fell onto its side. "I can do whatever I want with you, Alfred. Do not forget that."

Alfred fell, hitting the glass. He cursed, for now the jar could roll off the table if he hit the side too hard. But he turned a bit red at Arthur's words and glared at him. "Y-You can't!"

Arthur brought his face close to the glass. "But I can." He turned around and continued working on the food.

Alfred moved back as he leaned in and said that. He gritted his teeth and turned away from him.

About half an hour later, Arthur slid down the side of the cabinets, defeated. The food had ended up black and unrecognizable, and most likely inedible. Again. Moaning, he covered his face in his arms.

Alfred snickered from the jar, rising to his feet and turning to face him. "Well, you didn't burn the house Iggy!"

"Shut up!" Arthur moaned, not raising his face.

Alfred kept going. "Soooo pizza? Or sushi?"

Arthur stayed silent for a moment. Then he stood, and opened the fridge again. "Nope. I will cook tonight."

"Dammit! C'mon England, you already burned that!"

"Then I will keep trying."

Alfred moaned, falling down again. "I'm huuunnngrrrryyyy and you're going to take forever! Your torture is horrible!"

"It's not torture." Arthur suddenly spotted a covered dish in the back of the fridge. He took it out and found it to be some rice with teriyaki chicken. He sent out a silent 'Thank you' to Japan.

"We have this." he said, showing the food to Alfred.

Alfred jumped up, nearly tripping himself as he did. "Holy shit, food!"

Arthur moved the jar with him inside to the table, but didn't take the American out of it. A few minutes later, he lowered some food down into it for Alfred before digging into his own portion.

"You could at least lemme out dammit!" Alfred yelled at him, but immediately started eating when the food was given to him.

"I'll let you out later. Maybe."

"Maybe!? Later!? Now! Lemme out now! England! I said now!" Alfred shouted back, taking a bite of his food in between sentences.

Arthur rested his chin on folded arms and looked at him. "I think not. Not yet."

Alfred finished eating and glared at him. He then looked up, and tried jumping up to reach the lid, but he was still to short. He cursed, still trying.

"Screw you, England! You can't do whatever you want!"

Arthur unscrewed the lid and took it off, knowing that Alfred was too short to climb out of the jar, and the sides were to slippery to provide any footholds.

"Oh, but I can."

Alfred glared at him. "Screw you!" he responded to the taunt of taking the lid off.

"Oh, Alfred, don't be like that."

"Too late!" He kept glaring.

Arthur lazily reached out and turned the jar on its side, letting Alfred out. He then went back to his previous position, his arms folded on the table and his chin resting on them.

Alfred scrambled out of the jar, glaring at him as he kicked the jar so it rolled towards him.

Arthur allowed the jar to bump him lightly on the cheek. "Are you still hungry?"

Alfred stopped for a moment. "Maaaaaaaaaaaaybe. Why?"

Arthur nodded to his own plate, which still had food on it. "You can eat it if you want. It'll stop it from going to waste."

Alfred stared at him. "Y'don't want it?"

"If I did, would I offer it to you?" Arthur asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Never know!" Alfred shrugged, but ran over to the plate and ate a bit of it before falling onto the table. "OMG, I'm full."

"Did you ever finish that movie yesterday?"

Alfred looked at him and snickered. "Nope, old man, you fell asleep."

"I am not that old! And you could have watched it without me."

Alfred shrugged again. "I got tired, okay? And I already watched it a few million times, so I didn't haveta."

Arthur shrugged in response, then lifted Alfred up and made his way to the library again. He set him down on the floor and then climbed back onto the window seat and picked up his book again.

Alfred yelped again at his sudden movement and struggled a bit in his hold until he was placed on the ground. He pouted as Arthur ditched him, and he looked at the large library. He turned to his right, looking up at the large bookshelf. Seconds later he was climbing up the spines of the books, determined to get to the top.

Arthur noticed the movement from the corner of his eye. "Don't fall. And die." he commented.

Alfred pursed his lips. "I won't. Imma hero!" He got onto the third shelf now, and he was making steady progress as he climbed up. But by the fifth shelf, his foot slipped and the book turned, falling onto its spine. Alfred yelled as he was dangling off the edge, holding the tip of the spine with one hand. He looked down and almost let go. "England!"

* * *

**A/N**: Ehh, I feel like this is kind of a shitty place to leave off, but it's currently 11:32 PM and I'm tired, so I'm leaving it at that. I'm gonna go get some much-needed sleep now, so good night. Oh, and happy Mother's Day!

See you guys Wednesday.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N**: Next chapter! A shorter one this time...

* * *

Arthur shot up immediately at Alfred's shout and ran over to the bookshelf. He reached out for him, and a moment later the American was safely in his hand. "Nooo, you won't fall for sure." he said sarcastically as he made his way back to the window seat. This time though, he settled Alfred down on the seat next to him as he went back to his book.

Alfred pursed his lips. "Shut up! It was your book's fault!" After a moment of looking at the rain he sighed, tugging on Arthur's shirt. "Iggy, I'm bored."

"What am I supposed to do about it?" Arthur asked turning the page of his book.

Alfred groaned. "I dunno, fix it!" he replied, standing up and tugging on the shirt with both hands.

Arthur finally raised his head from the book and looked Alfred full in the face. "What. Would. You. Like. To. Do?"

"Not. This. Boring. Stuff." Alfred shot back, mimicking his tone.

"That doesn't give me an answer."

Alfred started to climb up his stomach. "I don't know Iggy! But this is boring!"

Arthur watched him, amused. "Oh, I don't know. I'm finding this pretty entertaining."

Alfred glared at him, falling back so he laid on the book and outstretched his hands to cover a lot of the words. "It's not!"

Arthur gently moved him off to the side. "Then tell me what you want to do."

"Beat you at chess!"

Arthur laughed. "Keep dreaming, Alfred. That'll never happen. Besides, you could be used as a chess piece."

Alfred glared at him. "No way would that happen! And I could so win!"

"I suppose we'll see." Arthur set him down on the seat and went over to get his chess set.

Alfred watched him place all the pieces in their respective spots and immediately ran over to the white ones. "I call white, cuz white in chess is for winners! And heroes!"

Arthur rolled his eyes but let him have his way. Alfred climbed onto the horse figure, struggling at first, but eventually making it up. He sat on it, looking at the board.

"Whoaaaa," he breathed before pointing at Arthur. "Go! My kingdom allows you to move first!"

Arthur plucked up the figure Alfred was sitting on and brought it close to his face. "Hmm...so very much like a chess piece..." he murmured.

Alfred grabbed onto the horses ears as the air rushed past him. He turned a little bit red. "Sh-shut up! Don't get any ideas!"

"Too late." Arthur smirked, but put the piece back in its place and moved his own.

Alfred glared at him as he was placed back down, and he jumped off the horse, pushing it in between the pawns ahead of it. Arthur fell into a relaxed rhythm as he counterattacked.

"FUCK YEAH! CHECKFUCKINGMATE!" Alfred yelled out quite a few minutes later, jumping expertly onto his horse and sticking hand out as if he was holding an imaginary sword, which he then pointed at Arthur. "I beat one of the greatest empires of the world, England, at CHESS~!" he exclaimed dramatically, laughing.

Arthur plucked him from the horse and dangled him over the edge of the window seat. "As you so nicely pointed out before, I am no longer a great empire." he said, his voice slightly strained. "Now, would you like to repeat that?"

Alfred's voice lowered and he went a bit pale when he looked down. "Repeat what?" he asked.

"That last sentence of yours."

Alfred moved a bit, not enjoying the empty air underneath his feet. "I beat you at chess!"

Arthur relaxed his fingers, allowing Alfred to slip just a little bit. "Whom did you beat at chess, exactly?"

"Gah!" Alfred yelped as he slid down. "D-Don't do that! I beat you, England!"

Arthur lowered him to the ground. "You've had your fun, now let me read." He cleared the chess set from the seat and climbed back onto it.

Alfred pouted again when he lowered him, literally scared a few moments ago. "Aww! England, c'mon I'm bored!"

"Then go amuse yourself. But no climbing."

Alfred smirked, taking that as a challenge as he ran over to the bookshelves.

"Go up, and you'll be back in the jar or the cage."

Alfred stopped just as he touched the spine of a book. He cursed, but after a few moments couldn't help it. He glanced at Arthur, and when he was sure he wasn't looking he quietly started climbing up.

Arthur ignored him, he being completely absorbed in his book.

Alfred kept climbing up, going slower on the fifth shelf and openly cursing at the book that made him slip last time. He was up on the eighth shelf when he screwed up again, a book slipping under him. The book flew out of the shelf, and down onto the ground. Alfred was now hanging on the edge of the shelf, grunting quietly as he tried to pull himself up.

"Which will it be?" Arthur had heard the noise and looked up briefly, then returned to the book.

Alfred cursed, clawing at the shelf for a moment as he managed to pull half of his chest up. "N-None!" he grunted, still trying to pull himself up. After a few moments he rested for a bit, momentarily tired.

"Good. Then I get to choose for you." Arthur said happily.

"F-f-fuck!" Alfred started clawing at the shelf again, trying to scramble up.

"Would you like some help now?"

"N-No!" Alfred went a bit red.

"Mmm." He went back to reading.

Alfred waved his feet a bit, and he couldn't help it. "Y-Yeah..."

"What was that?"

"Yeah." Alfred growled, clenching his teeth.

"'Yeah' what? That could be the answer to many questions."

Alfred cursed. "Yes. Help. Now." His grip was loosening and he was slipping backwards.

Arthur sighed and got up again, making his way to the bookshelf and sticking his hand under Alfred just as the other lost his grip. The American fell for a few inches before landing softly in his hand.

Alfred moaned as he fell. "Thanks." He immediately got up, about to jump back onto the bookshelf.

Arthur's fingers closed around him, cutting off his escape. "Nope. No more climbing for you."

"Dammit! C'mon England!"

"No." Arthur went back to the window seat and deposited Alfred onto his stomach after he had settled in comfortably. He reached out for his book again.

Alfred was surprised he wasn't in the cage or jar by this point, but he didn't care. "England! This is BORING!"

Arthur pinched the bridge of his nose. "Then what do you want to do?"

"I don't know! Not this! It's boring!" Alfred turned and grabbed his shirt.

"Get used to it then. You'll be in this state for six more days."

Alfred groaned, falling back onto his stomach. "Daaaaaaammmiiittttttttttttt! Daaaaammmnn yooouuu!"

"If you weren't so much of an annoying idiot so much of the time, this wouldn't have happened.

"I'm not an idiot! A-And I'm not annoying!" Alfred glared at him.

"Yes you are. You are annoying right now, because you won't let me finish this bloody book!"

Alfred pursed his lips, hitting him. "Cuz it's BORRINNGGG!"

"It's not boring for me. Perhaps if you picked up a book in your life, you would know what I'm talking about."

"I've picked books up before! And this one is boring!"

"That jar is looking very sweet right now. At least through it I can't hear your voice." Arthur growled.

"No it's not! And you can hear my voice through it! And you can't do that!" Alfred hit him again. "Do something else!"

"So you prefer the cage then?"

"Wh-what?! No! I meant reading, do something else!"

"So sleep then."

"SLEEPING IS BOORRIRINNGG! WE SLEPT ALREADY!"

"Until you come up with a suitable activity, I will keep on reading then."

"No!" Alfred let go of his shirt, jumping down onto the book and sprawling all over one page. "DO SOMETHING WITH MEEEEEEEEE!"

Arthur raised an eyebrow before removing the offending American from the book page. "Then suggest something to me."

"I dunno! I'm tiny! I can't think right!"

"Couldn't think right at normal size, either." Arthur muttered quietly. "Then I suppose it's back to reading." he said, louder this time.

Alfred didn't hear the first comment. "Noooo! IGGY DO SOMETHING ELSE. STOP BEING BORING!"

"At least let me finish the chapter!" Arthur snapped.

"THAT'S BOORING!" Alfred protested, pouting.

"Bloody hell- I swear, Alfred, if you don't shut it for the next five minutes, you will be out there again." He pointed outside the window, where it was still raining.

Alfred turned to look where he was pointing and went a bit pale. "You wouldn't do that Iggy!"

"Would you care to try me? And it's Arthur!" Arthur said, a dangerous tone in his voice.

Alfred narrowed his eyes. "...Y-You wouldn't Iggy. Don't lie!" he shot back nervously.

Arthur merely opened the window and shoved Alfred out, then slammed it shut. "I'm not lying."

"Wh-AAAAH!" Alfred yelled as he was shoved out the, and he tipped backwards, falling off the windowsill and into the bushes. He cursed, scrambling up, and sat on a leaf at the top of the bush, holding onto the piece of wood.

"Finally, blissful silence..." Arthur murmured. He contentedly went back to his book, and finally finished the blasted chapter.

Alfred was soaked during the first few seconds of the rain and he was shaking as he began moving down the branch, trying to find some kind of shelter and cursing the other nation out the whole time.

Arthur opened the window, feeling the slightest bit guilty for what he'd done. But he told himself he was just worried about the garden again. All the rain could wash the soil out from under the flowers. So he stuck his head out the window.

Alfred paused everything he was doing for a moment after hearing the window open. He cursed at Arthur again, and jumped up, latching onto a higher branch above him. He swung helplessly for a moment before gritting his teeth and pulling himself up. He made progress slowly, but eventually managed to climb onto the tallest branch of the bush right outside the window, the tall tree beside it giving him some shelter from the rain.

Arthur's gaze focused on Alfred for a moment. "Oh, hello, Alfred. The rain is quite troublesome, don't you think?"

"F-Fuck you." Alfred responded, still shaking from the cold, as he looked away from him.

"My garden will be a wreck tomorrow." Arthur continued conversationally.

Alfred blinked, and then glared at him. "FUCK YOU." he repeated, moving back, closer to the branch and looking away from the other.

"It's unhealthy to be out there in your condition. Would you like to come in?"

Alfred felt his stomach turn over. "No. Fuck you." he croaked out, sitting down on the branch and leaning his head against it.

"Are you sure?" Arthur made as if to close the window.

Alfred stopped himself from shooting up and screaming a no and asking him to let him in. Instead, after an awkward hesitation he curled up, bringing his knees up to his chin. "Yeah." he mumbled, moving closer to the branch as he wrapped his arms around his knees, avoiding eye contact.

"Yeah meaning what, Alfred?"

"I'M FUCKING SURE!" Alfred yelled, voice cracking by the end. He turned away from him again.

Arthur heard the crack in his voice, and his guilt returned, stronger now. He sighed and brought Alfred inside. He closed the window and used his shirt to dry the tiny nation off, for the second time that day. Not expecting Alfred to want to talk to him, he set him down next to him on the seat and closed his eyes, leaning back against a pillow.

Alfred was confused for a second when a hand wrapped around his body. He started to struggle against it, his arms pinned down again. "Dammit England, I said I'm fine! Let me do-" His voice was muffled as Arthur pressed cloth against his mouth and body and started drying him off. When he was set down Alfred huffed, turning away to look at the window. A flash of lightning came, and he gulped, moving to the side, hitting Arthur's side and moving closer to him, his warmth a lot better as compared to the cold draft coming through the slightly open window. He basically moved as much against Arthur as he could.

Arthur opened his eyes and looked down as Alfred huddled closer to him. "Are you afraid of lightning?" he asked, closing the window.

Alfred glared up at him. "N-no. I'm cold." he muttered, loud enough for him to hear.

Arthur scooped him up and brought him close to his chest. "Is this better? Or would you like a bath or something?"

Alfred turned a slight shade of red when he saw where he was moved to. "It's okay…" he mumbled angrily, before he heard the other options. "A bath!? So you can drown me!? No thanks." he replied, pressing himself against Arthur's chest, the warmth a lot stronger and better.

"Why would I drown you?"

"Cuz I'm small and there's nothing for me to take a bath IN." Alfred mumbled as pressed his cheek to the fabric of Arthur's sweater. "No, I'm fine."

"I wouldn't drown you because you are small. And you could always do it in a bowl, or teacup, or even the sink. It would be like a pool." His fingers started stroking Alfred's back of their own accord.

"Later..." Alfred mumbled. His voice was dragging off sleepily as he was slowly closed his eyes for a moment, falling asleep. After a few seconds he blinked a lot in an effort to stay away, the stroking of his back not helping at all.

Arthur's own eyes were starting to get heavy. He closed them and listened to the faint sound of the rain. Alfred fell asleep moments later, softly snoring from time to time.

Arthur's eyes opened as the snoring reached his ears. Moving slowly so not to wake him, he went to his bedroom and gently deposited Alfred onto his pillow, pulling the covers over him so only his head was visible. He went downstairs and made himself some tea before curling up on the opposite side of the bed and allowing his eyes to drift shut.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N**: And so starts the really serious drama... -sigh- XD Hope you enjoy!

* * *

When Alfred woke up about an hour later, he blinked to realize he was in a bedroom. He looked around to see Arthur next to him, and that he was laying on the pillow. He yawned loudly and rolled to the side.

Arthur's eyes opened momentarily. "Wha?" he asked sleepily.

"Ughhhhh what happened?" Alfred sat up, rubbing his face and covering himself up with the blanket again as he started getting cold.

"I moved you here. Thought it would be more comfortable." Arthur muttered, stretching.

Alfred hesitated. "Thanks." he muttered, hugging himself with the blanket. "OMG it's cold, did you forget to close the door or something?

"No...I'm warm enough. But if you're cold, here." He moved closer to Alfred, draping a hand over him and arranging his body in a semi-circle around him.

Alfred laid back down. "Thanks again." he mumbled, moving closer to one of his hands.

"No problem. You want to go back to sleep?"

"No, I can't. Do you want to?" Secretly, he wanted to try the whispering thing again.

"Would you stay quiet long enough for me to?"

Alfred snickered. "Dunno. Maybe if you _beg_," He laughed.

Arthur let out a chuckle. "Not a chance, little hero." he said sarcastically, before falling silent and drifting off to sleep.

Alfred pursed his lips, and stayed quiet so Arthur could fall asleep. When he was, he let him sleep for ten minutes before he got up and climbed up his side to his shoulder. "EEEEEEEEEEEnnnnnggllllaaannnndddddddddddddd!" he whispered into his ear, smirking.

"Wha...?" Arthur muttered in his sleep, shifting slightly.

Alfred cursed, trying not to fall. "Dooooo yooouuuu heeeaaarrrr meeeeee?" he was probably going to fail again, but it was hilarious screwing with him.

"Mmm" Arthur turned completely over now, so he was laying on his back, his arms and legs at slightly weird angles.

"Shit!" Alfred fell onto the pillow on his left. "Dammit!" he exclaimed, his foot having ending up underneath Arthur's shoulder. He cursed again.

Arthur faintly heard Alfred's voice through his dream. "Al..." he said, trailing off with a "Mhmmm..."

Alfred glanced at him. "What the fuck are you dreaming about!?"

Arthur turned onto his side again, almost in the same position he had been before.

"Shit!" When his shoulder moved, Alfred slid down the pillow and fell down onto the mattress.

He scrambled up and started climbing his back before Arthur crushed him by accident. When he got onto the top of his shoulder he smirked, getting ready to jump.

Arthur felt the strange crawling sensation on his back and lazily swatted at the disturbance. There wasn't that much force behind the blow, as he was weighed down by sleep.

"FUCK!" Alfred was thrown back onto the mattress. He cursed, rubbing his head, which was throbbing as he lay there. "Watch it, dammit!" he yelled at Arthur, finally sitting up.

Arthur was startled awake at Alfred's shout and peered at him with half-closed eyes. "What happened?"

"Oooh shit...you hit me," he mumbled, head still throbbing.

Arthur's heart stopped for a moment and he was awake instantly. "I did?" he whispered. "Shit, well, what the hell were you doing? You're not hurt, are you?" He hesitantly reached out for Alfred.

"I wasn't doin' anything. I'm fine, I'm fine." Alfred replied, turning onto his side. "It was an epic fall!"

Arthur pulled him closer to himself. "Fall? From where?"

Alfred jumped as he was suddenly grabbed. "Your shoulder..."

Arthur took a deep breath. "And what, pray, were you doing on my shoulder?"

"Ummmm I was coooold?"

"It's even colder up there. So why were you up there?"

"...I...was...enjoying the view and stuff."

"What view? The splendid view of my bed? My room? You have got to find better excuses. Or, tell me the truth. What were you doing?"

"I was just bored." Alfred replied.

"Of course you were. Now stay put. I'm going back to sleep." Arthur closed his eyes again, this time keeping Alfred in his hand.

Alfred struggled against his fingers, trying to wriggle out. "Noooo! Get up, get up or you'll be sleeping forever!"

"Are you threatening to kill me?" Arthur asked sleepily.

"No! All ya wanna do is sleep! But I can do that too, if you don't get up!" He was still trying to get out.

"All I want to do is sleep because you're so bloody high-maintenance!" Arthur snapped, but opened his hand. "Go. Explore. But NO CLIMBING."

Alfred dropped onto the mattress again. "I am so not high-maintenance!" he replied, standing up. "How can I NOT climb, England!?"

"Stay. Still." Arthur burrowed under the covers and pulled a pillow over his head.

Alfred pouted, starting to climb the pillow. "No!"

"I have half a mind to send you flying again." Arthur grumbled.

What!? N-No! Alfred struggled up, and got onto the top of the pillow. "Geeeeeet uuuupp!" He jumped up and down on top of it.

Arthur reached up and removed Alfred from the pillow. "Go find something to do by yourself."

Alfred hit his hand as he was being moved. "Noooo! Get up!"

"Why?"

Alfred smirked. "Cuz I'm BORED! And you can't sleep all day!"

"I haven't been sleeping all day. And your boredom is not my problem."

Alfred hit his hand. "It is! It's your fault I'm like this! 'Come over for a drink' my ass!"

"You brought it upon yourself." Arthur said, and then proceeded to ignore Alfred.

Alfred hit his hand again, with all his might. "No, I didn't!"

Arthur didn't bother replying, but he let go of Alfred.

"I didn't!" Alfred latched onto his finger, kicking it.

Arthur's fingers twitched, but there was no other response.

"WAKE UP!" Alfred kicked it again.

Arthur moved his hand out of the other's reach.

Alfred glared at him and ran up to his chest. "Don't ignore me!" He kicked him, pushing at him as well. "Wakeupwakeupwakeup!"

Arthur finally sat up, so that he was looming over Alfred. "What. Do. You. Want?"

"Ohshit," Alfred fell back onto his butt as he looked up at Arthur. "Get up!"

Arthur leaned over even more. "I am up." he growled, not amused.

Alfred laughed nervously. "Up up~!" he squeaked as Arthur's shadow loomed over him.

"Up, up, _what_?"

"As in outta bed!"

"And go where?"

"...Not...here?"

"I'm good. But you are certainly welcome to go." Arthur said, laying back down.

Alfred jumped up again. "GET UP!"

"No. Go away."

"I can't, I'm too small! GET UP!"

Arthur sighed again and sat up once more. "There, I'm up."

Alfred glared at him. "UP! STAND UP!"

Arthur stood up on the bed, towering over Alfred. "I'm. Up." he repeated, annoyed.

Alfred forced a smile. "There we go! Now get out of bed!"

Arthur stepped over him and onto the floor with a light thump, and then turned around to glare back at him.

Alfred grinned. "WHOOT! Now, downstairs, leggo!"

"Good luck getting down there." Arthur said with a smirk, and walked over to the doorway.

"WITH ME DAMMIT!" Alfred yelled, running over to the edge of the bed.

Arthur paused in the doorway and looked back, then walked over to the bed and offered Alfred his palm.

Alfred jumped onto it, sitting down in the center. "WHOOOT! LEGGO, GO MAGIC CARPET, GO!"

Arthur dumped him unceremoniously back onto the bed. "We won't be going anywhere if you call me 'magic carpet' again." he warned.

"Ugh, fiiinnneeee," Alfred laughed, sitting up again. "Magic hand then!"

Arthur wasn't amused. He crossed his arms across his chest and crouched down, leaning back on his haunches as he glared at him.

"Fine, fine, fine," Alfred stifled a laugh, just smiling. "Hand?"

"I'll accept it. For now." Arthur said, offering his palm again.

Alfred jumped on again, his mind going crazy with different things, especially how he was still calling it magic carpet.

Arthur sensed that he hadn't really gotten through to Alfred, but he took him downstairs just the same. He set him down on the coffee table in the living room again.

Alfred sat down, watching what he would do. "...Can I have food? Is there any more of Japan's food?"

"We ate last night." he said, staring at him. "How can you be hungry? You have a tiny stomach; you shouldn't be hungry so soon."

Alfred pouted. "Cuz I'm a big, strong hero, and heroes needa eat a lot! Plus, I am the one conquering miles of mattress, climbing miles of cloth and books, and struggling to stay alive outside in the rain!"

Arthur shook his head, but left Alfred on the table and went into the kitchen. He came back with some crackers and water. "Here you go."

"Uwah! Prisoners meal!" Alfred took it all the same and started munching on the large cracker.

"Prisoner's meal or not, it's the only thing I can offer you that doesn't involve me cooking." Arthur said, settling down on the floor next to the table.

Alfred nodded. "S'not that bad..." He finished the cracker in record time and looked at the water. "Um... I can't reach the top of the bottle Iggy."

"It's Arthur, damnit!" Arthur snapped irritably before unscrewing the cap and pouring some water into it. He set the full cap before him.

Alfred stared at it then knelt down, reaching into the cap, and bringing the water to his mouth. He repeated the process a few times, and then stood, wiping his mouth. "Thanks Iggy."

"When will you learn, it's ARTHUR!" He took a cracker for himself.

Alfred pouted playfully. "Mhm, oookay~!"

Arthur rolled his eyes at Alfred's pout. "You think I don't know my own name?"

"I'm not saying THAT Iggy," Alfred replied, taking another cracker and breaking it.

"Arthur, damnit." Arthur muttered, before he leaned over and deftly stole a part of the cracker from him.

"Hey!" Alfred jumped after it, but not being able to reach it, he plopped down again, breaking another piece.

Arthur grinned, stealing the next piece as well.

"Dammit Iggy!" Alfred took a whole cracker and moved down the table, gripping it tightly as he took a bite. "Get your own!"

"I did. I got it from you." Arthur replied, but made no move for the cracker.

Alfred glared back at him. "As in, get your own from the plate!"

"Not hungry." He leaned back against the couch and relaxed. "So you got me up. What now?"

"Let's do something! What do you wanna do?" Alfred said, looking around.

"I just asked you, idiot."

Alfred pursed his lips. "AAAAAAAAnd I answered! Now you answer me!" he grinned, happy he totally got him there.

"I'm going to sleep." Arthur muttered, lying down on the couch.

Alfred cursed, standing up and dropping the cracker. "NO! Get up! You won't be able to sleep at night and stuff!"

"That's my problem, not yours." He turned away from Alfred.

Alfred cursed, him being on the table while Arthur was on the couch. He looked down and picked up his cracker, throwing it at him. His aim was good and he hit Arthur's ear, the cracker sliding slowly down his face.

Arthur shot up immediately, turning around to face Alfred and glaring at him. "What was that for?!" he demanded.

Alfred grinned, placing his hands on his hips. "Ha! You needa get up!"

"I don't need to do anything, especially if you are the one telling me to do so." Arthur replied scathingly.

"What's that supposed to mean?! I'm the hero; you totally need to listen to my total hero voice! Get up!"

"You are not a hero, and the only voice I hear is that of a whiny American, which I don't feel a particular need to listen to."

Alfred clenched his teeth, and grabbed another cracker. "Shutup! And get up!"

Arthur sighed and sat up, leaning his elbows against his knees and propping his chin up onto his hands. "There. I'm bloody up. Now what?"

Alfred pouted again. "I'm bored! And I can't do anything fun when I'm this small, and it's your fault cuz of your stupid revenge! So do something!"

Arthur thought for a moment, before picking Alfred up and going to the guest bedroom. He placed him on the bed and walked to the library, kitchen, and living room, gathering up things he would be able to use to make a mountain/pile of stuff for Alfred to climb. It took him a while to gather all the stuff. He debated long and hard over each item on whether it had the potential of seriously hurting Alfred or not. He placed the stuff on the ground and got to work.

"Whatcha doin'? Are you going to kill me with Shakespeare?" Alfred asked, peering over the edge of the bed.

Arthur shot him a glare. "I have half a mind to, but no. You'll see in a little bit."

"WH-WHAT!? Half a mind!?"

"Be glad it's not a full mind." Arthur replied, sitting back to reflect on his handiwork. The hill was about waist-height for him, and solidly constructed out of books, bottles, and non-sharp kitchen stuff. There were plenty of holes and tunnels, as long as a few ways to reach the top. He turned to Alfred. "What do you think?"

"Looks like a shitty Eiffel tower."

Arthur gritted his teeth. "Do not mention that- that _thing_ here." he said darkly, before picking up Alfred and placing him down at the bottom of the tower. "Climb."

"What?! Don't say it like that! Makes it sound like I'm your little lab rat or some shit!"

Arthur poked him lightly, pushing him forward. "What else am I supposed to say? Now climb it...if you can." he said, smirking.

Alfred looked up at him. "What's that supposed to mean!? Of course I can climb it! Imma hero!" he yelled at him as he started up the hill.

Seconds later, about a third way up, his foot got caught in one of the holes created by the large objects. His leg then got caught in it, and he struggled to move it out.

"Having a little trouble there, hero?" Arthur asked, reaching out to pull him out of there.

Alfred smacked his fingers. "N-No! I'm fine!" He managed to pull it out after a few seconds. Although it was a bit numb, he kept climbing, watching for any spaces and holes. When he got to the top he smirked at Arthur. "Ha, loser!"

"Is your leg okay?"

"Course! Imma hero!"

Arthur leaned back against the bed. "And how do you suppose you'll get down?" he asked. The descent was a bit harder.

Alfred looked down. "Can't you take me off?"

"Well, I could...But where's the fun in that?"

Alfred glared at him. "It is fun! But not when you won't just take me down!" he looked down again. "C'moooonnnnn I'm tired!"

Arthur leaned forward and placed his palm next to Alfred. "Come on, then."

Alfred jumped on it. "Fuck yeah!"

Shaking his head, Arthur lowered him to the ground. "Do you want to climb it again?" he asked, tilting his hand so he slid out onto the floor.

Alfred wasn't ready for the tilt and tumbled off. "OYE!" He rubbed the back of his head, looking up. "Naaaaw, I'm fine."

Arthur picked him up again. "So what do you want to do now? Are you hungry?"

Alfred shook his head. "I'm fine." he then tried to wrestle out of his grip.

"So sleep?" Arthur asked hopefully, his grip tightening slightly around Alfred's body.

Alfred groaned. "It's like 8! Noooo!" He kept struggling, not exactly sensing the tightening.

"So what now?" Bored, Arthur shifted his grip so he was holding Alfred by the back of his sweatshirt and raised him over his head. His mouth was slightly open.

Alfred's eyes went open as he scrambled to grab his finger. "L-Lemme down!"

Arthur smiled and tightened his hold on Alfred's sweatshirt just in case, but didn't lower him. "Why should I?"

"C-Cuz I don't like it, and it'd be great if y'could?"

Arthur's mouth opened more as his smile grew. "And why don't you like it?" he asked innocently. "Are you _afraid_?"

Alfred's expression scrunched up. "N-no. I just...don't like it!"

Arthur fractionally loosened his grip before tightening it again, so that Alfred slipped a little. His green eyes were practically glowing with pleasure, and his smile turned more into a smirk. "Oh, really? You don't?"

Alfred yelped when he went down a bit. "NO! Stop it, England!"

"Stop what?" Arthur asked, tilting his head to the side a bit. "I'm not doing anything."

Alfred gritted his teeth. "Fuck you! Don't pretend you're stupid!"

"But I honestly have no idea what you're going on about." Arthur said, allowing him to slip a little more.

Alfred yelled again, grabbing the tip of his finger. "F-FUCK YOU! STOP DOING THAT!"

Arthur frowned. "Stop doing what, Alfred?"

Alfred glared at him. "Letting me slide down!"

In response, Arthur let him slip a bit more. He had to be careful now, because he was barely holding onto Alfred at this point. He closed his mouth and looked up at him.

Alfred was ready to cry by this point. "STOPITFUCKYOUDAMMIT!"

Arthur lowered his hand and deposited Alfred onto the bed. He then leaned his head against the sheets and closed his eyes.

Alfred landed with a small jolt and scooted away from him. "Why'd you do that?! I coulda fell!"

Arthur didn't move. "I was in complete control of the situation. You wouldn't have fallen."

"Well stop being in control! I told you to stop!"

"You never listen to me." Arthur shot back quietly, but it was a poor excuse.

"Cuz you never listen to me!"

"That's not true." Arthur snapped, turning around and resting his forearms on the sheets so he could see Alfred.

"Yeah it is! You didn't fucking listen to me then!"

"That was one bloody time!"

"You never listen to me, okay?! During meetings during a shitload of things, and I can name a lot starting from way back! WAY FUCKING BACK!"

"Because your ideas are almost always stupid, and you never obeyed me!" Arthur yelled back, his voice rising in volume.

"OBEY YOU!? I was never supposed to, or should have fucking OBEYED you! My ideas aren't stupid, you are! And you only think so cuz you never actually listen to them!"

Shaking his anger, Arthur reached for him before thinking better of it, standing up, and stalking from the room. He paused by the door. "You can sleep in here. Alone." he snapped before leaving. He slammed the door so hard that it opened again, but he didn't notice. Wrapped up in his own rage, he made his way to his room down the hall where he collapsed face-first on the bed.

Alfred had moved back, eyes wide as he reached out for him. Now he sat there on the bed, watching the door fly a bit open again. "Y-YOU ALWAYS DO THAT!" he called after him. "Y-YOU NEVER TALK ABOUT IT, YOU JUST LEAVE BEFORE SAYING ANYTHING! YOU ALWAYS FUCKING DO!"

Arthur faintly heard his words. "Because it's easier." he muttered into his pillow.

Alfred didn't hear anything in reply. "FINE! GIVE UP LIKE YOU ALWAYS DO!"

Arthur lifted his head. "SHUT THE BLOODY HELL UP! YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING!" he yelled before slumping down again.

"I FUCKING DO! IT'S APPARENT! AND YOU ALWAYS DO IT!"

Fuming, Arthur jumped up and marched back into the guest room and snatched up Alfred, squeezing him tightly. "Shut your oversized, idiotic mouth before I throw you into the damn cage or toss you outside." he hissed, eyes slitted. "You don't know a bloody thing."

Alfred's eyes went wide as he pushed at his fingers. "E-England...th-that hurts..." he choked out as his face heated up.

Arthur tightened his grip even more. "So?" he asked venomously. His whole mind was clouded with anger.

Alfred cursed as the breath was literally being pushed out of him. "S-Stop it! You're doing it again! Y-You're not fucking listening! I-It really f-fucking hurts!" When he said so he wanted to, but couldn't, look up. "Y-You don't care?!"

At the last sentence, Arthur's mind cleared and he immediately loosened his hold. He gazed down at Alfred for a moment, his eyes sad, before he placed him carefully on the bed and turned away. "Of course I care." he said quietly, and began walking towards the door.

Alfred stumbled into a standing position as he held is stomach. "So what? You're gonna fucking leave again? And then tell me I DON'T KNOW? I know, England. I know so much, that I guessed you'd just fucking leave again! And I'm not idiotic! Stop fucking treating me like a kid!"

Arthur stopped, not turning around. "You were good at leaving too."

"What?" Alfred froze.

"You heard me. You were splendid at leaving; created a big fuss about it as well."

Alfred's confused expression turned into a glare. "A fuss? I created a big fuss?!"

"Forget it. And good night." Arthur said, walking forward again.

Alfred jumped over to the edge of the bed. "SEE! THERE YOU FUCKING GO AGAIN! JUST WALK OFF! I DO KNOW A GODDAMNED THING ENGLAND! AND ONE OF THOSE THINGS IS THAT YOU'RE A COWARD! YOU'RE A COWARD WHEN TALKING TO PEOPLE, ESPECIALLY ME!"

Arthur turned around for a moment, just as a few tears escaped from his eyes. "Fine then. Let me be a coward." he said hoarsely, before fleeing the room again. He collapsed onto his bed, trying to sob quietly into the pillow. It didn't work. The noise was pretty loud. Furious with himself, he tried to stop, but found he couldn't.

Alfred was taken aback by the response. "E-England?" he called. "England?"

"Leave me alone!" Arthur yelled, his voice cracking a few times. He beat the mattress angrily for a few seconds, but continued to sob.

Alfred fell silent for a couple of minutes. He sat down and pushed himself back into the covers. Tears fell out of his own eyes. About an hour later the entire room was extremely dark and he couldn't take it anymore.

"ENGLAND! ENGLAND PLEASE COME HERE!" He paused to suck some air in as tears rolled gracefully and in millions down his cheeks. "IT'S REALLY SCARY! I'M REALLY SCARED!" he sobbed out as loudly as he could.

Arthur was still awake, staring listlessly at the ceiling when he heard Alfred's calls. He immediately got up and padded over to the guest room. He stopped by the bed. "Alfred?" he asked quietly.

Alfred immediately jumped when the darkness shifted near him. He was trembling in the middle of the mattress, his chin down on his collarbone, eyes shut and wet.

"P-Please don't hurt me!" he sobbed, voice cracked all over. He was hugging himself. "England!" he said again. This time it was lot more quiet and hoarse, as he had used up all of his voice.

Arthur started crying softly again when he heard the first part. "I-I would never hurt you, Alfred." he murmured, falling to his knees on the floor by the bed. "Wh-Where are you?"

Alfred recognized his voice. "E-England? I-I'm over here." he choked out, not moving.

Arthur very slowly reached out a hand across the mattress, trying to locate Alfred. "It's dark, I can't see you." he whispered to keep his own voice from cracking. The longer Alfred didn't know he was crying, the better.

Alfred flinched, yelling when he felt something touch him. He buried his head in his arms. "ENGLAND!" he shouted, thinking what had gotten to him was some kind of monster.

Arthur drew back when he felt Alfred. "That was me." he said before reaching out again and taking Alfred into his hand.

Alfred flinched again, and started sobbing even more. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean any of that I swear! Please don't throw me outside, I really didn't mean it! I-I'm really scared, please stay with me? Please, please, please, please, please? Put me in the c-cage even! Just not here, please!" He dropped onto his knees in Arthur's palm. "I-I'm fucking terrified E-England. I-I'll fucking beg you if y'want. Please!" he choked out, eyes still shut with tears.

Arthur's own tears came harder and his shoulder started to shake. "Stop it." he managed to get out in between sobs. "Stop it Alfred, y-you don't have to beg or anything. I-I won't throw you out of put you in t-the cage. I-I'll stay with you." He took his other hand and started stroking Alfred's back in an attempt to calm him down.

Alfred was still sobbing. "I will I swear, I will. I-I'll do fucking anything. Just don't leave me alone, just don't. P-please. "

"I won't leave you." Arthur said, standing and going to his room, Alfred in tow. He carefully got into bed, not once letting go of him. "I won't leave. You don't have to do anything."

Alfred nodded. "Th-thank you, thank you so much."

Arthur turned onto his back and placed Alfred onto his chest, draping a hand over him. He used the other one to wipe away his tears, but more came. His whole body would jerk slightly with sobs every few moments.

Alfred shivered slightly, gripping at his shirt. "E-England?"

"Y-Yes?" His fingers curled around Alfred a bit, holding him closer.

"P-Please don't cry."

That only served to make Arthur cry harder. He gritted his teeth and squeezed his eyes shut, but it didn't help. "I'm t-trying." he choked out.

Alfred gripped him tighter. "Please don't...I love you big brother. N'matter what."

"I love you too, little brother." Arthur murmured, before placing him on the mattress a good distance away and curling up into something resembling a ball. The whole ball shook as he cried.

Alfred curled into a ball himself. He waited a few moments as the other cried, and when it died down a bit he piped up. "England?"

Arthur raised his head slightly. "Yes?"

"...C-Can you hold me? I'm cold..."

"Of course." Arthur reached out and wrapped his fingers around Alfred's torso, pulling him close. He hesitated. "...I didn't hurt you before, did I?" he asked quietly.

Alfred shook his head. "No...I just...got...scared..."

"I'm sorry..." Arthur whispered, ducking his head..

Alfred shook his head again. "It's okay. I'm fine, really. Imma hero, I'll always be fine..." he replied, nuzzling to his fingers. "G'night Artie."

"How can you still trust me...?" Arthur whispered. "Good night, Alfred." he said, kissing the tip of his index finger and pressing it against Alfred's forehead.

Alfred felt the index finger on his forehead and he laughed. "You always did that when I WAS A KID..." he muttered, yawning. Before long he was asleep.

Arthur smiled slightly. "You still are a kid. You haven't seen anything yet..." he murmured, rolling onto his back again and placing Alfred onto his chest. He rested a hand over him as a makeshift blanket and closed his eyes.

* * *

**A/N**: Seems like these two will never get along, doesn't it? Tch, anger can make people do such stupid, silly things...

Anyhow, see ya later, guys!


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N**: Another chapter~!

* * *

Alfred woke up then next morning, relived he was in the same position as when they fell asleep. He couldn't exactly move with Arthur's hand on him, but at least he was warm.

Close to waking up, Arthur shifted his arm so his hand fell to his side. He sighed in his sleep and turned his head, but otherwise didn't move.

Alfred felt the warmth go away, and he looked up at him, stretching. He then lay still, closing his eyes and waiting for the other to wake up as well.

Arthur eventually opened his eyes and looked down at Alfred. Thinking he was asleep, he smiled softly and lightly stroked his back again.

Alfred smiled a bit in his almost-sleep. He loved it when Arthur did that, it being like a massage. He slowly opened his eyes. "Hey Iggy..."

Arthur immediately snatched his hand away and looked away, his face heating up. "G-Good morning, Alfred." he muttered.

Alfred let out a laugh. "Aww, are you embarrassed? Why?"

"S-Shut up, I'm not. How long were you awake?" he asked, dreading the answer.

Alfred snickered. "At least half an hour. Calm down, you didn't talk in your sleep or nothin'"

Arthur groaned slightly. "Why didn't you say anything?

"Cuz I didn't wanna wake you up!"

"I meant after I woke up? Why didn't you say anything then?"

Alfred pursed his lips. "Cuz I was sleeping..."

Arthur sighed, realizing he wasn't getting anywhere and closed his eyes again, leaning back against the pillow.

Alfred squirmed a bit. "Don't go back to sleep!"

"I'm not, I'm resting."

Alfred rolled around on his chest. "I'm hungry."

"Alright." Carefully picking him up, Arthur went down to the kitchen and opened the fridge. "What would you like?"

"Edible food."

"If you're trying to say something about my food..." Arthur thought for a moment. "I could run out quickly and buy something."

Alfred nodded. "DONUTS!"

Arthur placed him on the kitchen table and closed the fridge. "No. Absolutely not."

Alfred jumped up. "WHYYY?!"

"That's not proper food." He went and got his coat and keys. "Will you be alright for a few minutes while I get something?"

Alfred jumped up again. "MUNCHKINS! PLEEEAAASSEE!"

Arthur shook his head smiling slightly. "No. But I take it you'll be fine. I will be back soon." he said, walking out and locking the house.

Alfred called after him with the donuts one last time before the door closed. He lay down, sighing, and waiting for him to come back.

First, Arthur walked to a nearby cafe and ordered scrambled eggs and toast to take home. The owner knew him well, and handed the bag over with a knowing smile. He then stopped by a bakery and bought a few cream puffs, which looked a little bit like plain munchkins, but weren't munchkins and were much healthier. He was back home in 15 minutes.

"Alfred?" he called as he closed the door behind him.

Alfred immediately jumped up. "MUNCHKINS?!"

Arthur took off his coat and boots before going to the kitchen. "No." He got out a plate and a saucer, and placed some scrambled eggs into each of them. "Hold on." he said, going upstairs for a moment before returning with a tiny fork, perfect for Alfred, held carefully between his fingers. He placed the fork onto the saucer and set it down before Alfred. He then got a normal-sized fork and set down his own plate of food by his chair. The bag with the cream puffs sat on the countertop by the stove. "Enjoy." he said before starting to eat.

Alfred grabbed the fork, it being as large as his head. "Whoaaaa!" He started to eat as well, eating every single thing he got. "ItwasgoodArtie!" he said, mouth full.

"Stop speaking with your mouth full." Arthur reprimanded, getting up and removing one of the cream puffs from the bag and placing it in front of Alfred.

Alfred stared at it. "Whoaaaa, it's a- that's not a munchkin..."

Arthur shrugged. "It's close enough."

Alfred looked up at him. "No! Munchkins are different!" Nonetheless, he ripped a piece off. "It's good though..."

"Of course it's good, it's British food." Arthur leaned forward a bit. "I believe there's some sort of cream in the center."

Alfred pouted. "Scones are British and bad." He then turned back to the gigantic cookie. "Cream!? Really?! Like, pudding or ice cream!?" He immediately ate faster to try and get to the center.

"That's not a scone, idiot. And more like pudding. I don't have any ice cream." He watched Alfred eat, amused.

Alfred finally got to the center, and a few minutes later had eaten half of it. "Uwaaaaaaaah I ate soo muucchhhhh."

Arthur gently removed the rest of the cookie from Alfred's grip and placed it back in the bag. "So save it for later." he said, withdrawing another cream puff from it and placing it whole into his mouth. He smiled as he swallowed.

Alfred looked up at him. "...Screw you! You get to eat more!"

Arthur smirked. "I'm bigger."

Alfred glared at him. "Not usually!"

"But now I am." He sat back down by the table and leaned his chin against the wood.

Alfred walked over and punched his nose lightly. "FOR now you are!"

Arthur winced theatrically, in reality not feeling the blow. "Yes. But now is now."

"And later's later!"

"But it's not later, is it?"

Alfred glared at him. "Th-that's not the point!"

"Then what exactly is your point?"

"That you're screwed when I'm tall again!"

Arthur smirked. "Mhm, okay. You keep telling yourself that."

Alfred glared at him again. "Y-You are!"

"And what are you going to do to me, once you're back to normal?" Arthur asked, amused.

Alfred shrugged. "I'll think of something. But probably poke the shit outta you!"

"Oh, yes, _poking_. I'm so very afraid." Arthur rolled his eyes.

Alfred glared at him some more, and then smirked. "Or I'll find a gigantic cage for you!"

Arthur chuckled. "Good luck with that. Wasn't it last night you _wanted_ to go in there?"

Alfred laughed. "...Sh-shut up! Fuck you!"

"Bold words for a little guy." Arthur said, smirking. "Are you full now?"

"'M'not little! Fun size! And course they're bold- Imma hero!" After a second he continued with a grumble. "Yeah, yeah, I'm full."

"Perfect." Arthur said brightly, before picking him up and taking him outside. He set him down on the grass and went over to the tool shed to get some gardening tools.

Alfred flinched when he was set on the ground. "E-England, ENGLAND WHERE ARE YOU GOING?!"

Arthur returned after a few minutes with gloves, a small shovel, and a small gardening rake. "Just to get some tools. I need to fix my garden. It got a bit damaged in the storm. You can run around here if you want, but don't leave my yard." He knelt down by the flower beds, slipped on his gloves, and got to work.

Alfred stared at him. "But that's boring!"

Arthur paused his digging to glare at him. "You're outside. 'Fun-sized', as you put it. Go out. Explore." he said, pointing at Alfred with the shovel. "I have work to do."

Alfred pouted and looked around, suddenly getting really curious as to what he could do. He immediately set out in the grass, getting across half of the yard when he found some kind of plant, tall and strong enough to hold him as he started to climb it.

"Don't fall or die." Arthur commented when there was silence behind him, not bothering to look up from his work.

Alfred ignored the voice as he climbed up the plant. On top of it his jaw dropped. "Whoaaaaa!" he breathed out. He appreciated how far he went, and how cool it looked from that height. "HEY IGGY! LOOK AT ME!"

Arthur paused briefly and turned around. "Congratulations. Now get down."

Alfred smirked. "No! It's awesome on here!"

Arthur shrugged. "Don't expect me to help you when you do want to get down." He got up and stretched before moving to the vegetable part of the garden.

Alfred pouted again, glaring at him. "You make it sound like I NEED help!"

"You do." Arthur stabbed a short green gardening stick into the ground and tied a small tomato plant to it.

"No! I don't!" Alfred said indignantly, cursing at him. He turned and started figuring out how to get down.

"Suuure you don't." He stuck another stick into the dirt.

Alfred grinned. "Nope!" He jumped, grabbing a flower. He dropped down, but his grip was tight on the flower, so it along with its stem went down with him. It slowed down his fall so he landed gracefully on the grass. "HA!" he yelled, grinning triumphantly.

Arthur flashed him a brief glance. "Mhm, well done and all that." he said, finishing up the work. He then took off his gloves and lay down on his back in the grass, closing his eyes.

Alfred grinned, walking around a bit more, before returning to Arthur. He had one of the green sticks in his hand and he poked him.

Not opening his eyes, Arthur reached out over his head and plucked the stick up, lightly shaking Alfred off it before throwing it across the yard.

Alfred fell onto the ground with an "Oof!" He looked up. "Why'd you do that?!"

"You were poking me. So I stopped you."

Alfred pursed his lips. "C'mon Artie! I only did it once! And you just threw my awesome sword away!"

"Pity for you. Be grateful I didn't throw you along with it."

Alfred glared at him, kicking his head. "You wouldn't!"

Arthur barely felt the blow, but he picked up Alfred and held him up in the air all the same. "Would you like to try me?"

Alfred's eyes went wide and he went a bit pale. "No! Lemme down!"

Arthur smirked and very gently tossed him straight up, so he flew for a few inches before landing back in his hands. He then lowered Alfred and deposited him onto his stomach.

AAAH!" Alfred screamed when he was in the air, and grabbed his shirt when he was put on his stomach. "Wh-Why'd you do that?! I said no!"

Arthur placed his hands behind his head and looked up at the sky. "Couldn't resist." he muttered. Then, even more quietly, "Sorry. But I wouldn't have let you fall."

Alfred kept clutching his shirt. "Do it again."

Arthur's head snapped up and he stared at him. "W-What?!"

"It was fun!" Alfred started grinning.

Cupping Alfred against his stomach, Arthur sat up, cross-legged, and held him up again. "Are you sure?"

Alfred wriggled in his grasp eagerly. "Fuck yeah!"

Still a bit unsure about it, Arthur carefully tossed him up again. He made sure that Alfred only flew up a few inches again before landing safely in his palm.

Alfred laughed, looking up at him. "AGAIN!"

Arthur complied, sending him up a bit higher.

Alfred landed laughing again and breathing hard. "Whoaaaa." he held his forehead for a moment.

Arthur leaned down close to him. "Are you alright?"

Alfred nodded. "Dizzy."

"No more of that, then." Arthur said, and brought his other hand up over Alfred to provide some shade for him. Miraculously, the sun was still out. "Would you like some water?"

Alfred nodded. "Why not? I'm fine!"

"You could land wrong and break something." He got up and went into the kitchen, setting Alfred on the table. He poured some water into a bottle cap for him and slid it across to him.

Alfred drank from it, and pushed a half full bottle cap back. "Nawww, I'll be fine!"

Arthur regarded him seriously. "I don't want to take the risk."

Alfred pursed his lips. "Okay..."

"Good." Arthur patted him lightly on the head before taking the cap away.

Alfred pursed his lips again. "Are you done in the yard?"

"Yes. I just have to put the tools away, but that will only take a moment. Why?"

"Cuz I lost my sword, so imma be bored!"

Arthur's fingers twitched, and he resisted the urge to facepalm. "There are other things to do."

"But it was so much funner with a sword!"

"MORE fun, if anything." Arthur snapped.

Alfred smirked. "Funner!"

Arthur loomed over him. "More. Fun." he said forcefully, his voice close to a growl.

Alfred laughed. "Funner~!"

"More fun, you twat, so stop arguing with me!"

"Twat?! Dude, I'm just joking! Plus, funner is a cool word!"

"It's barbaric and ungrammatically correct."

"How's it BARBARIC?! And? Can't we have some fun?"

Arthur sighed and picked up Alfred, taking him outside again. He looked around for the stick a bit before locating it and placing him down next to it. "Have fun then." he called over his shoulder as he walked away, towards the tools.

"HEY! This is boring too now! Can't we do something together or something?!"

Arthur walked back over to him and sat down cross-legged next to him. "As long as it doesn't involve poking."

Alfred laughed again, and hit him with the stick. "That's not poking~!"

"OW- that's it." Arthur growled. He took the stick from Alfred's hands and forced him down onto his back, before laying the stick across his chest. He pressed down slightly on either end of the stick, effectively pinning him down. "Are you having fun yet?"

Alfred fell back with a "Shit!" He started to push back at the stick. "Wh-what?!"

With little effort, Arthur kept him in place. "I asked, 'Are you having fun yet?'"

Alfred struggled a bit. "W-Well it's n-not boring!" he managed to say, as his teeth were gritted while he kept trying to move out from under it.

"Good. I'm glad you're enjoying it." Arthur said, smiling patronizingly as he kept him down.

Alfred started to kick at him. "Y-You can s-stop now!"

Arthur immediately lifted the stick away from him and tossed it over his shoulder.

Alfred was panting heavily. "H-Hey why'd you throw m-my sword again?" he protested, not bothering to get up.

"So you can hit me with it again? I'm not a bloody piñata."

Alfred pursed his lips. "Not that I actually hurt you…"

"You hit me. With a stick. Of course it hurt a little!"

Alfred smirked. "Ha! Says you!"

Muttering to himself, Arthur shook his head and leaned back until he was laying down again. He ran his hands lightly over the grass, as if he were stroking the fur of a dog or horse.

Alfred groaned. "Arthuuurrrr c'mon I'm bored!"

"So? There's plenty more to do, that doesn't involve poking me or hitting me with a stick."

"But it's fun bothering you!"

"It's not fun to me."

"Course not! Cuz you're boring!"

"I am not!" Arthur said indignantly.

Alfred poked him in the side. "You are, too!"

Arthur barely felt the touch, so he shrugged it off. "Am not!"

Alfred laughed. "Yup!"

"Shut up! I am not boring!"

"You are sometimes!"

"'Sometimes' isn't the same as just being boring."

"You're boring, but sometimes EXTRA boring!"

Arthur rolled over onto his side, away from Alfred.

"Hey! Stop it! I was kidding- but you are being boring right now, Iggy! I wanna do something with you!"

Arthur debated for a moment, and then rolled onto his back again. "What do you want to do?"

Alfred shrugged. "Funner stuff!"

Arthur gritted his teeth. "Until you come up with something concrete, I suppose you'll have to deal with being bored."

"Ugh, but I can't! I'm tiny!"

"That's not an excuse."

Alfred sighed. "Um...can we...hmmmmm...uwah! I can't think of anything!"

An idea suddenly came to him and he shifted so he was crouched over Alfred. There was a glint in his eyes that certainly hadn't been there a moment before. "Oh, I know _exactly_ what we can do." he said, his smile similar to one of Russia's.

Alfred nervously stepped back. "A-And that is...?"

Arthur chuckled. "You're going to take a bath." he said, reaching for Alfred with one hand.

"What?!" Alfred scooted back, out of his reach. "I don't wanna! And now?! No!"

Arthur leaned forward even more and wrapped his fingers around Alfred. "Oh, yes. Right now."

Alfred pushed at them immediately. "No I don't wanna! ENLGAND- goddamn! Nononono, later at night man, come on!"

Smirking, he stood up and walked to the bathroom. "Unless you present another thing we can do right this moment, you're taking a bath." he said. "In there." he added, gesturing to the sink.

Alfred was fighting against him. "PLAY A GAME!"

Arthur paused for a moment. "What game?"

"I...I...um...um...hideandseek?"

"Hmm... An interesting notion." Arthur set him onto the ground an opened the door. "You have one minute to hide." He put a hand over his eyes and began counting.

Alfred smirked and ran out, immediately going into the bedroom. He climbed under the bed and hid behind one of the bedposts.

When the minute was over, Arthur went out and checked the guest bedroom thoroughly first, before going to his own. The cage was still hanging from its hook on the ceiling, so he took it down and set it on the desk with a loud clatter.

"Where are you, Alfred?" he muttered.

Alfred heard the clatter and he moved back, just in case he was a bit visible.

Arthur checked the bookshelves, the closet, and the top of the bed before getting down onto his stomach and peering under the bed.

Alfred cursed under his breath when he heard him kneel down, and he rounded the post so he wouldn't see him when he looked his way, ready to jump back when he got up.

Arthur noticed the small movement and smiled to himself, but sighed and got back up. "Guess he's not here..." he muttered, loud enough so Alfred would hear him. He got up fully and silently went onto the bed, waiting.

Alfred jumped back under the bed, landing with a little "Oof!" He didn't move and tried figure out where Arthur had gone.

Arthur shifted loudly on the bed, muttering about stupid tiny people and their hiding places. After a few moments, light snores were coming from him.

Alfred climbed out from under the bed. "England?"

Arthur opened his eyes and pounced, snatching up Alfred before lying back down on the bed. "Found you." he said, grinning smugly.

"AHH! FUCK- That's not fair!" Alfred protested, struggling against his grip. "That's a fucking dirty trick, Iggy!"

Grinning, Arthur released you onto the bed. "Dirty it may be, but it's effective." he said, snickering. "You totally fell for it."

Alfred fell with another grunt. "Th-that's not fair!"

"Life's not fair, love." Arthur said with a wink. "You learn that after a few months of privateering."

Alfred raised an eyebrow. "Privateering?"

"Yes. You have a ship, and a warrant, and you hunt pirates on the seas. Ahh, those were fun times."

Alfred grabbed onto Arthur's shirt, climbing onto him as he spoke. "Whoa, and you learned that from that? What happened? Tell me!" He settled onto his stomach.

Arthur looked down at him, amused. "I still have my pira- privateering clothes, if you want to see them."

Alfred's eyes lit up. "PUT 'EM ON AND TELL ME A STORY!"

Arthur laughed and removed Alfred from his stomach, setting him on the bed before he went into his closet. He came out a few minutes later, dressed in soft black pants, brown boots, a loose, white button-down shirt and a splendid long red coat. The coat had gold lacing around the cuffs and matching buttons. A silk handkerchief was tied around his throat and a black captain's hat with an extremely large, extremely impressive feather sticking out of it. A red sash was tied around his waist over a belt. A sword was strapped to the belt, and twin gun holsters ran diagonally across his chest. There was a knife hidden in his left boot and another two up his sleeves. He took out a gun and pointed it at Alfred, smirking cockily. It felt really good to be back in these clothes.

"What do you think?" he asked.

Alfred's jaw dropped. "Whoa! Y'look like an awesome pirate! I wanna wear it when I'm taller again! "

Arthur's eyes narrowed. "Absolutely not. You are not touching this. And I was not a pirate, I was a privateer!"

"But that totally looks like a pirate! I bet you have an eye patch too!"

Arthur coughed slightly. "No, o-of course I don't!" he said, glad he hadn't brought it out.

Alfred laughed. "Whatever. It looks really awesome! Now tell a story!"

Arthur put the gun away and sat down on the edge of the bed, shifting the sword slightly so it would be more comfortable. "What kind of story?"

Alfred climbed onto his lap. "Whoa! A sword! Bout being a privateer and catching pirates and stuff! Was that like, a police officer or something?"

Arthur gently ruffled his hair with a finger. "No. It was better." He thought for a moment. "Hmm...I could tell you about the time I beat Spain's so-called great Armada. Or, one of the numerous times I beat France's ass."

Alfred's head went down and he laughed, gently pushing his finger away. He tried fixing his hair up a bit, but actually made it worse. "Any! A totally epic story! Now, shoot!"

Arthur moved, kicking off his boots and scooting back so his back was resting against the headboard. He held Alfred closely against his stomach.

"Well, fist off, my preferred ship was a beautiful Frigate called Britannia's Angel. This story takes place in the Caribbean, during one of my many face-offs with France." He chuckled. "Hah, that frog fancied himself a pirate. It was near Puerto Rico, and I was just doing my rounds. I was undercover, so I had my skull and crossbones up. So the frog sails up in his pathetic little Galleon and shoots. The shot hits the quarter deck, but it doesn't cause too much damage. I was sleeping then, and extremely angry at being woken." He laughed again. "When France saw it was me, he tried to run, but do you really think I'd let him? Of course not. He couldn't hope to outrun me. Oh, I humoured him for a little bit, letting him think he could get away before firing on him. We used cannonballs with chains, meant for snapping masts. The first shot was off, due to wind, so it only hit the main deck, but the second one took the mainmast down. Then we were next to him, and we boarded. His crew fought well, I'll give them that, but they never really stood a chance. As usual. I went after the frog myself, catching him on the gun deck." He smiled, eyes clouded, as he remembered the moment. After a few moments, he snapped back to the present. "We sunk the ship after taking all his gold and jewels. Oh, he tried to get back at me numerous times, even sending Spain and Prussia after me, but even those three together couldn't stand against me." He smirked. "After I put down my sword, I hid the Britannia's Angel to keep her from being scrapped. I still know where she is, untouched over the centuries." He brought Alfred up to his face. "What do you think?"

Alfred grinned brightly. "Awesome! You didn't make it up, did you?"

"Of course not! You can ask France if you want. Or Spain. Any mention of Captain Kirkland sends him into his panic room." Arthur said, laughing again.

Alfred nodded. "Whoa that's awesome! But wait- if you wanna get rid of pirates, why'd you take his jewels and stuff? And why'd you sink his ship? It doesn't sound like justice stuff..."

Arthur struggled for an answer for a moment. "Well...it's France. Someone had to protect the seas from him." he said eventually.

Alfred tilted his head. "Soooo you were a pirate?"

Arthur's eyebrow twitched. "No. I was a privateer. There is a difference."

Alfred shook his head. "YOU WERE TOTALLY A PIRATE! THATS SO BEAST! Did ya like, make people walk the plank and stuff?"

"I was not. I had a warrant. And any more out of you and _you'll_ be walking the plank." Arthur said, poking Alfred in the chest lightly.

Alfred laughed, stepping back. "B-But that's sooooo cool! Did you like, talk with a pirate accent too? Say AAARG and stuff!?"

"Pirates don't talk like that. That's just an overdone American movie stereotype."

Alfred pursed his lips. "So y'said hardy and stuff?" he laughed a bit.

Arthur tightened his grip on him a bit. "No." His tone was not amused.

Alfred didn't notice anything as he kept smiling at him. "Did 'ya like, take prisoners and stuff? And make 'em wash your ship floor and stuff? O-Or did you have a badass telescope and compass? And did 'ya like, burn ships down or something?"

"That's it, I'm changing. No more pirate stories for you." Arthur muttered, placing Alfred down on the mattress and getting up.

"NONONONNONONO- IGGY! C'MON! I was just asking! And you look cool, don't!"

Arthur paused, looking back at him. "You really think I do?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

Alfred nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah!"

Arthur slowly sat back down. "No more questions about pirates."

"Okay…okay...but could you put an eye patch on, pleaaassse?" he asked, jumping onto his shirt again and gripping it tightly so the other wouldn't pull him off.

Arthur looked down at him for a long time before sighing and getting up, a hand under Alfred in case he let go. He padded into the closet and fished around in the dresser with his free hand until he found it. It was black, with a small skull and crossbones on it. He slid it over his left eye. "Well?"

Alfred gazed up at him, eyes and mouth wide. "WHOA YOU LOOK LIKE A FUCKING AWESOME PIRATE!" He started kicking at the air. "TAKE A PIC TAKE A PIC!"

Arthur's cheeks heated up a bit, and he took the eye patch off. "No. Absolutely not."

Alfred started to frantically thrash around. "NONONONONONNONONO, PUT IT BACK ON, PLEASEEEE~!"

"Why?" Arthur asked, tilting his head.

"Cuz you look awesome and scary! C'mon!"

"What's the point? No one is going to see it but you, and I'm taking it off in a little bit anyways."

Alfred pouted. "C'mon, pleaassssseeee, it looks awesome!"

Arthur hesitated for a moment before putting it back on.

"YES!" Alfred yelled, releasing his grip on Arthur's shirt for a moment to fist pump victoriously.

Arthur chuckled and placed Alfred on his shoulder. "You could be my parrot."

Alfred grabbed onto his coat. "What?! Parrot?! That's mean! I don't wanna be your parrot!"

Arthur turned his head so he could look down at him. "What do you want to be, then?"

"...YOUR CAP'N!"

Arthur chuckled. "Amusing, Alfred, but _I'm_ the captain." he said, ruffling his hair again. His eyes were hard, though.

Alfred laughed a bit. "Whhhyyy? I can totally lead you through battle right 'ere!"

Arthur moved Alfred to the dresser and unsheathed one of his knives. He let the point hover pretty close to Alfred. "Go ahead then. Let's see what you've got, little hero." he said, smirking.

Alfred's eyes went wide open and he stepped back. "Wh-what!?"

Arthur's smirk grew wider. "Go on, then. 'Lead' me though battle." He slammed the knife into the wood of the dresser, about a foot from Alfred, and leaned on it so that he was looming a bit over him again.

Alfred jumped back. "God fuck- you'd have no chance if I was taller!"

"You keep telling yourself that."

Alfred glared. "What?! I totally could." He courageously stepped forward. "Plus you're holding a KNIFE to my NECK!"

"It's hardly by your neck, it's stuck in the wood." he said, pulling it out and running a finger along the edge. "But no, you couldn't."

Alfred stepped forward again. "I could!" he growled.

Arthur pushed him back until his back was against the wall and kept him there. "No, you couldn't." he said cheerfully.

Alfred immediately started pushing against his finger, hitting it. "I COULD!"

Arthur smiled and released him. "You couldn't. No one matches my skill with a sword, knife, or gun." He tossed the blade up into the air. It spun a few times before he caught it easily by the hilt and pointed it at Alfred. The tip was half a foot from his body. "No one."

Alfred walked right up to it, and pushed the tip to the side, and stepped into the spot where it used to be. "You'd be surprised." he growled up at him.

Arthur continued smirking. "We'll see..." He sheathed the knife and picked up Alfred, carrying him to the bed. "I'll go change now. Be out in a moment." he said as he put him down.

"We'll see!? What's that supposed to mean!?" Alfred called after him.

"It means, we'll see when you get back to normal." Arthur replied from the closet. He emerged a few minutes later, dressed in his usual pants and sweater vest. He sat down on the bed.

Alfred kicked him in the side. "Y'better bet on it!

Arthur sighed and picked up Alfred by his shirt. "Kindly refrain from kicking me."

Alfred stuck his tongue out at him as he fought a bit to move as his arms were being awkwardly restrained by the sleeves.

"That is so mature, Alfred." Arthur commented.

Alfred thrashed around a bit more, sliding down his shirt, half of his stomach already showing. He stuck his tongue out again in response.

Arthur placed him back onto the bed. "So very extremely mature." he repeated.

Alfred fixed his shirt roughly. "Well, I can!" he stuck his tongue out again.

"Careful, or I'll pull it out." Arthur warned, lightly pinching Alfred's shoulders between his thumb and index finger.

Alfred closed his mouth, shutting his eyes as he was pressed together. But nonetheless, he looked up and stuck his tongue out anyways.

Arthur leaned down until his face was inches away from Alfred's, and he slowly reached out a hand. "I guess you don't mind losing this, then." he said softly.

Alfred stuck his tongue back into his mouth immediately. "You wouldn't be able to get it anyways!" he replied, the words muffled as he wasn't opening his mouth too much.

Arthur released him abruptly and went to the bathroom, coming back with a pair of tweezers. He then held him the same way as before, except now he had the tweezers near Alfred's mouth. "Would you care to try me?"

Alfred's eyes went wide, and he violently shook his head, moving back.

Arthur held him firmly in place and tapped his head lightly with the tweezers before letting him go and placing the metal instrument on his bedside table.

Alfred lowered his head, shutting his eyes as the cool metal touched him. "H-Hey stop it!"

Careful of the tiny nation , Arthur stretched out on the bed on his stomach, resting his head in his crossed arms.

"I did." he said, the words muffled by his arms.

"No! You always do that!" He jumped onto the top of his head. "Hey, you okay?"

Arthur winced as Alfred landed in his hair. "I'm fine. But I always do what?"

"Freak me out like that!" Alfred slipped, and with a yelp fell, sliding down his forehead and nose and landing on the pillow.

Arthur looked down his nose at him, sprawled all over the pillow. "Like _what_, Alfred?"

Alfred rolled over. "Like a second ago!" He tried to stand up, but fell back down.

Arthur slid a hand out from under his head and placed it behind Alfred, supporting him up. "You know I'd never really hurt you, right?"

Alfred tried to erase the memories that came to him. "I know...but you always do that. Make me think you will, for a second at least."

Arthur stared at him, his gaze intense. "But you know I'd never really do it, right?" he pressed.

"I…know." Alfred avoided eye contact as he looked down.

Arthur looked down as well, saddened. "Of course you do..." he muttered, not really believing it, as he removed his hand from behind him.

Alfred fell back down again, into the pillow. "Oof!" He looked up. "Wh-what was that?! I know, England!"

Arthur buried his face into his arms and shut his eyes. "Yeah…sure..." he mumbled.

Alfred leaned down, kicking his arm. "I know, I always did Iggy! 'Specially cuz of...y'know.."

Arthur didn't move. "Because of what?"

Alfred glared at him. "You do-" He shut his eyes. "The fucking Rev War, England! When you- when you..."

Arthur became perfectly still. "When I what?" he whispered.

"WHEN YOU ALMOST FUCKING KILLED ME, ENGLAND! Y-you wanted to slit my throat! But you didn't!"

"I-I couldn't ever do that, Alfred." Arthur said quietly.

"Exactly! You didn't, that's why I trust you..."

Arthur reached out and wrapped his fingers around Alfred, drawing him close to his chest in an awkward hug.

Alfred smiled uncomfortably. "U-Um...can we hug it out when I'm taller?" he asked, squirming a bit in his hold.

Arthur put him back onto the pillow and buried his face in his hands again. "If you don't hate me for doing this to you..."

Alfred looked at him. "What? Course I don't. It's fairly fun..."

"Alright..." Arthur took hid head out from his arms and rested his chin on them, looking at a spot on the headboard.

Alfred stared at him. "Why won't you look at me?" he said softly.

Arthur forced his gaze to linger on Alfred for a moment before he looked away again. "There." he said quietly. "I looked at you."

Alfred's eyebrows furrowed. "Why won't you LOOK at me? Like, for longer than 5 seconds!"

Arthur shifted his gaze to look deep into his eyes. "1..2...3..4...5..6..." he counted out, then closed his eyes.

Alfred's cheeks puffed out. "Th-that's not funny! Stop it!" He hit him on the arm.

"I'm not trying to be funny."

"Then why the fuck won't you look at me?! Am I, like, hideous or embarrassing to you?!"

Arthur's eyes flew open. "No, of course not!" he said, looking at the headboard again.

Alfred's eyes slowly started to burn him as tears started to form. "Was that fucking sarcasm? I'm not an idiot, stop treating me like one!"

"No, it wasn't. I swear it wasn't." Arthur's throat was starting to close up, and it was hard to get the words out.

Alfred stared into his eyes. "Then why did you _look away again _England?"

"It's hard, okay?" Arthur forced himself to look at him. "It's really hard."

Alfred clenched his teeth. "Why's it _hard_?"

"It's- It's...I look at you, and...you're free. I wouldn't change that, but it still hurts."

"Wh-what?! I-It hurts? That I'm where I wanna be?!"

"You wouldn't understand. You were never a great empire. You never lost everything."

Alfred clenched his jaw. "I was never a great fucking empire? Do I needa be one to be on your fucking level?!"

"What level? What are you going on about?"

"I don't understand cuz I never was a fucking GREAT EMPIRE?!"

Arthur nodded numbly, closing his eyes again.

Alfred's tears were growing larger. "'Great Empire' isn't someone who says shit like that." he said stiffly.

"But I'm not anymore, so it doesn't matter anyways."

Alfred fell back. "I'm still a f-fucking big and powerful country. Just cuz I'm not called 'great empire'."

"I know." Arthur whispered.

"Then why would I not understand? Do YOU know how much I lost, England?! Especially now? Your fucking trust! Your fucking realization that I'm not a kid anymore, England! I do understand, okay?! So stop fucking saying stuff like that."

"I still trust you...and I know you're not a child." He got up and shifted so his back was against the headboard again. He brought his knees up against his chest and rested his chin on them, staring out into nothingness.

"NO YOU DON'T! You know what, fucking 'GREAT FUCKING EMPIRE', you don't and never have, and your lying has always been shit since day fucking one."

"Of course I do, you don't know anything. Yeah, so I might think your ideas are usually shit, and you don't always catch onto everything, but I trust you."

Alfred froze. "What?"

"You heard me. I trust you, Alfred. Call me insane, but I do."

"Why would you need to be insane to t-trust me? I-I don't know anything?! My ideas are usually shit?! I don't catch onto everything?!"

"I wouldn't, it's just an expression." Arthur said quickly, ignoring the rest of Alfred's words.

Alfred clenched his teeth. "How about everything else I fucking said?"

"Some of it's true."

"S-Some or fucking all of it?" Alfred kept staring at him, jaw still clenched and teeth gritted. "You know, you don't usually, if not ever, catch onto shit either, y'know?"

"Yeah? Like what?"

"Like this. Like when I told you I wanna be my own country. Like when I told you _I would win_. Like when _I did_. "

Arthur gritted his teeth. "Enough." He stood up and went to the door. "Say whatever you want, I won't be coming back in here." he said, and left, not even bothering to close the door. He went to the guest room and sat down at the desk, head in his hands.

Alfred watched him walk out. "And there you fucking go again! Leave, fucking leave! Are you really such a coward? Were you one when you were a pirate too? I wouldn't be surprised if the answer was yes." He yelled at his walking figure.

Arthur placed his hands over his ears to drown out Alfred's yells. He didn't move from his curled-up position on the chair.

Alfred fell to his knees on the spot of the mattress he was on as tears went down his face. "STOP IGNORING ME, ENGLAND! THAT'S WHY I FUCKING LEFT! BECAUSE YOU STOPPED LISTENING!"

_'No, no, don't listen...'_ Arthur told himself as he cried harder. _'It'll end soon...he'll stop it in a bit...'_

Alfred covered his face with his hands. "And that's how you answered. And that's why, England. THAT'S WHY. STOP IGNORING ME! DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH IT HURTS?! I YELL AND I YELL, AND YOU NEVER ANSWER! HOW DO YOU THINK I FELT WHEN YOU LEFT FOR YOUR FUCKING PIRATE SHIT, HUH?"

Arthur frantically searched around for anything that would help him drown out Alfred when his eyes lighted on his spare iPod. Feeling extremely guilty, he put the earphones in and turned it on.

Alfred climbed to the side of the bed, and slid off, using the blanket. He ran over to the room Arthur had fled to. He looked up and saw him, sitting by the desk and listening to his iPod. Alfred knew he was because he had spotted the earphones. When he saw that, more tears poured down his cheeks. He ran from the sight, tumbling down the stairs, literally not caring if he even died. He didn't. Seconds later he was grabbing stuff to help him climb up the chair, and then the table, which was pushed against the wall and next to a window. When he got up, he walked right up to the open kitchen window and climbed out.

* * *

**A/N**: Err, yeah... More angst...


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N**: Shorter chapter now! Enjoy~!

* * *

Arthur spotted the quick flash of movement out of the corner of his eye, and his stomach tightened even more. He forced himself to stay like that for another minute or so, but then he couldn't take it any more and he ripped the earphones out and flew down the stairs. He couldn't find Alfred anywhere, and he froze when he saw the open window. He was out the back door in a moment. "ALFRED!" he screamed out into the night.

Alfred was sitting on top of the bush he had been in before. He heard Arthur run out, and knowing The Brit wouldn't find him, he just huddled closer to the main trunk of the branch he was on. He had his arms on his knees, covering his crying face.

Arthur searched everywhere for him, even getting into the thorn bushes in the back corner of the yard. The fact that he didn't find Alfred there made the resulting scratches sting even more.

"Alfred, please! I'm sorry, so sorry for not listening, just please come out, I'm begging you! Alfred, please!" He finally collapsed onto his knees in the middle of the grass and simply sobbed. "Please..." he choked out.

Alfred slowly covered his own ears as he shut his eyes. Tears started to roll down even faster, but he clenched his fists, forcing himself to stop from saying anything.

"Damnit, I'm not leaving until I find you, Alfred!" Arthur suddenly yelled through his sobs. "I'll sleep out here if I have to, I just want to know that you're safe..." He forced himself up, his breathing ragged, and searched again, acquiring even more cuts and still no Alfred. He glared up at the dark sky, tears spilling down his cheeks. "Please, if any gods exist...help me find him..." he whispered before he fell to his knees by the side of his house.

Alfred had heard everything, and he started to cry harder. "I-I'm fine." he said, not exactly expecting him to hear him, but silently hoping he would.

Arthur froze, his ears straining for the sound. "A-Alfred?" he asked hoarsely, looking around.

Alfred covered his face more. "I'm fine." he repeated, a little bit louder. "Go inside."

Arthur stood up. "Where are you? I'm not leaving without you." He hesitantly started in what he thought was the general direction of Alfred's voice.

Alfred cursed under his breath. "I'm fucking staying out here, _leave_."

The words cut him like a knife, but Arthur forced himself to go on. "No, I'm not going inside without you." he repeated stubbornly.

Alfred shook his head lightly. "I'm not moving. Go inside, England. You shouldn't be worrying about shit like me." he said, smiling slightly through his tears as he said the last few words.

"You're not shit, don't say that about yourself!" Arthur hissed, his heart twisting at the words. "Of course I care about you, I still love you. You're my little brother, no matter what."

He stopped by the tree Alfred had been near after he'd pushed him out the library window and searched for his form within the branches of it and then the bush next to it.

Alfred didn't notice his figure in the darkness. He didn't answer, but silently sobbed. Moments later he spoke. "I'm a stupid dumbass little brother." he mumbled. "Stop loving me."

Arthur finally saw him. He wanted to sob with relief. He gently picked him up, cradling him to his chest. "I will never stop loving you. And I'm the shitty older brother, if anything."

Alfred immediately started to struggle. "Stop, stop, stop, put me down. Don't touch me!" he cried.

"No, Alfred. You're coming inside with me, where you belong."

Alfred kept struggling, hitting at him. "Put me down, England! Put me the fuck down! I don't deserve this, I don't deserve any of this shit, stop, stop! Put me down, I'm fine! I'm fine, now you know!"

"There is no bloody way I'm putting you down. And stop talking shit like that, of course you deserve it." Arthur murmured, holding Alfred closer. "You're not fine, and I'm sorry for everything I said before."

Alfred kept shaking his head. "Stop, let go! This isn't fair- let fucking go!" he hit at him more.

Arthur set his jaw. "No. I'm not letting you go."

Alfred hit him as hard as he could. "Fuck you! Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you! Put me down England, PUT ME DOWN!"

Arthur barely felt his hits as he walked inside. He went into the kitchen and moved all the chairs away from the table and cleared it before placing Alfred down gently in the center. He then went over to the stove and quickly made some tea, pouring some for himself into his favorite teacup and some for Alfred into a tiny cup. He set both cups down on the table and pulled back one of the chairs, sitting down in it by one end of the table. He gripped the teacup with both hands and stared into the dark liquid, trying to stop his sobs.

Alfred immediately ran to the edge where he started to yell at him again. "S-Stop it! That's not fucking fair! Let me down England! England, now, or I'll fucking jump!" he hollered, looking right at him.

"Please don't jump." Arthur said, reaching up quickly to wipe the wetness from his cheeks. "And I'm not letting you go out there. You could get hurt, or die."

Alfred shook his head violently. "FUCK YOU! I don't care! Let me out! England, please! PLEASE!"

"You may not care, but I do." Arthur said softly, raising his gaze to look at Alfred.

Alfred gritted his teeth and fell to his knees, covering his face. "Please England, please." he sobbed loudly. "Please..."

Arthur's expression saddened. "Why do you want to leave so much? Am I truly that horrible?"

Alfred cried harder. "_I'm_ horrible, I'm horrible for saying all that shit, I'm horrible for everything, please. Please. I want to stay outside. Please, England."

Arthur reached out and began rubbing Alfred's back with a finger, fresh tears spilling down his face. "Stop it, don't say that. You're not horrible, you're America. I'm not sending you outside again."

Alfred didn't move. "Please, stop. Stop. Let me out. please. I'll jump England, I will."

"If you jump, I'll catch you." Arthur slowly withdrew his hand and placed it around the teacup again.

Alfred shook his head again, missing the feeling on his back immediately. "Don't. Let me out England, please. Please. "

"If I let you out, you'll get hurt. Or you won't come back. I'm sorry, but I can't do that."

"England please, please. I'm begging you. Please..."

Arthur shook his head and sighed. "I'll leave you alone if you want, but I'm not letting you go outside." he said after a moment of silence.

Alfred went silent for a moment before standing up and jumping over the edge of the table.

Arthur threw himself forward, miraculously catching Alfred the moment right before he hit the ground, before he himself went crashing into the cabinets. His hand was curled around Alfred protectively, shielding him from any injury and holding the little nation to his chest.

"Bloody-" he cursed as pain blossomed in his back and shoulder from where he had hit the cabinets. He slowly uncurled his fingers from around Alfred. "Are- Are you alright?"

Alfred hit at him, trying to get up, as he looked around, breathing heavily. "WHY'D YOU DO THAT?! Are YOU okay?! Godammit England!"

Arthur tried smiling, with little success. "I'm fine. But it's you who matters." he said weakly. "Now, are you alright?"

Alfred shakily stood and tried climbing out of his grip. "I'm fine, because of you idiot! YOU got hurt again! Cuz of ME again!"

Arthur shook his head, gingerly shifting so he was in a more comfortable position. He grabbed Alfred and held him lightly again. "I'm fine, don't be ridiculous. Besides, I WANTED to catch you. It is in no way your fault."

Alfred struggled to move, and he managed to push one of Arthur's fingers away. He stumbled out of his grip and fell onto his stomach. He immediately scrambled up and prepared to jump off him.

Arthur reached out and scooped him up with his other hand. "Alfred...why do you want to leave so badly?"

Alfred fell back into his palm. He stared at the ceiling, shutting his eyes. "I'm horrible for saying the shit I did. I wanna be a coward right now, Iggy, Y-You're not helping." he choked out.

"You're not horrible, it's not like we haven't said worse to each other before. Being a coward isn't good. It's not heroic, now is it?" He began rubbing his back again with his fingers.

Alfred sobbed softly again. "I-I'm not a hero, I wish I could be, but I'm not, I'm not. I-I want to be one, and I still feel horrible, I don't want you to give me any of that. Stop it, please."

"Of course you're a hero. What else could you be? You're pure, and strong, you have a good sense of justice, and you never give up. If those aren't heroic qualities, I don't know what are. And give you any of what?"

"Of THAT. Stop it. Stop. It's not true. A hero wouldn't say that, true or not." Alfred got up again and climbed out of his hand, sliding onto the floor. "J-Just let me stay outside."

Arthur blocked his way with his arm. "It is bloody true, I wouldn't lie to you about that! And there is no way in hell you're staying outside. You'll be right here, with me." he said forcefully.

Alfred gritted his teeth and without a word, grabbed his arm, and quickly climbed over it.

Arthur bit his tongue to keep from crying harder and stood up, scooped up Alfred, and went upstairs to his room. Along the way, he came across the spare iPod, which had ended up in the hallway in his mad dash downstairs. He quickly placed the iPod into a drawer, which he slammed shut before placing Alfred onto his bed. He sat down cross-legged on the floor by it and fenced him in with his arms, resting his chin on the covers.

Alfred struggled the entire way, and when on the bed he started hitting at his arm, it being harder for him to get over them this time. "Let. Me. Out."

Arthur looked at him, hurt and sadness in his eyes. "No. Please stay." he whispered.

Alfred shook his head. "You don't need me in your way. Please, nothing will happen I swear. I'll wait in one spot and leave when I'm my normal size again, please."

Arthur sighed in frustration. "That's a few days from now! You'll get hurt. And you're not in my way, I WANT you around."

Alfred shut his eyes again, turning to England. "STOP IT! STOP IT! I WANT TO GET OUT, YOU CAN'T J-JUST MAKE ME STAY. YOU CAN'T! LET ME LEAVE, IT'S FINE, I FUCKING DESERVE IT. PLEASE. ENGLAND."

Arthur's eyes turned dead. "Yes, I tried keeping you once, and look where that landed me." He slid his arms off the bed and let them fall into his lap. "You deserve the very best, America. Much more than I could ever give you." he said quietly.

Alfred froze. "Wh-what? That's- That's not what I- FUCK. FUCK. FUCK." He slid down the side of the bed, shaking his head as tears went down his cheeks again. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I always end up moving it to that topic, I never mean to. I never do. The very best is right here with you, idiot, that's why I needa leave because I've been treating it horribly." With those words he hurried for the door.

"Don't apologize, damnit! Please, Alfred! You're not the one who messed up! Please stay. I won't be able to bear it if anything happened to you because of me. I-I'll turn you back! I'll make you a spell to bring you back to normal, I swear, just please don't go." Arthur cried desperately.

Alfred groaned. "I-I'm fine, I'm fine. Please don't worry I'm fine-" He suddenly sneezed.

Arthur gently picked him up and carried him to the bed, setting him down on the pillow and covering him with the blanket. "You're not fine, you're sick." he said, eyes alight with worry. "I'm going to make you some warm tea, PLEASE stay here, Alfred. I'm begging you, don't go anywhere." With one final worried glance at him, he quickly went downstairs and to make the tea.

Alfred wanted to stay where he was, but at the same time he wanted to leave. But either way, he could barely sit up. He shut his eyes, cursing. It was all going downhill for him, and he didn't want Arthur to worry about him.

Arthur came back upstairs a few minutes later, a small cup of tea in his hand. He sat down on the bed and looked him over before lightly pressing a finger to his forehead to see if he had a fever. He didn't seem to at the moment, but he was worried about later.

"Can you sit up?" he asked quietly.

Alfred hesitated, but he sat up, it taking most of his energy out. "Y-Yeah. Easy." he lied.

Arthur frowned before placing a hand behind him for support. He gave Alfred the cup of tea. "Drink up. It will help you get warm."

Alfred took it, drinking some of the tea. He then handed an empty cup back to Arthur. "I'm seriously fine..." he said softly.

"You're not. Let me take care of you..." Arthur said, placing the cup onto the bedside table.

Alfred sighed. "I'm fine."

"You're not." Arthur pressed. "You are sick. Most likely from going outside." He sighed. "I'm sorry...I should have found you sooner."

"No. Shut up. If anything I could have told you earlier. Before you hurt yourself."

"What? I didn't-" Arthur glanced down at the scratches. "Oh, these are nothing."

Alfred hugged the blanket closer to himself. "No...no it's something. I'm sorry..."

"There's nothing to be sorry for, Alfred. I don't even feel them. Now, what do you say about a bath? It'll help."

Alfred smiled a bit, pulling the blanket even closer. "Noooooooooooo!"

"Please? It will help you get better, and I won't let anything happen to you, I promise."

Alfred looked at him. "Ewwwwww you're gonna be there when I take it? C'mooon!"

Arthur's face heated up some. "I won't look!" he defended. "But what if you faint while you're in the water or something?"

Alfred glared at him. "What?! I'm a hero, I wouldn't do tha-" He shut up.

"Hero you may be, you're weakened by the illness now. It wouldn't hurt to be careful, and I promise not to look." Arthur said gently.

Alfred stayed quiet. "'M'notahero..."

Arthur leaned forward. "What was that? I thought I just heard you lying just now."

Alfred glared up at him. "I don't lie!"

"Then don't say you're not a hero."

"'M'not.."

"There you go again with the lies..."

"S-Stop. I'm not."

"Don't we usually argue it the other way around?" Arthur asked with a small smile before offering his palm for Alfred to get onto.

Alfred smiled slightly in return, climbing onto it.

"It's nice to see you smile again." Arthur said softly before standing up.

Alfred looked away. "You too.."

"Thanks..." Arthur murmured as he headed to the bathroom.

He set Alfred down on the countertop and quickly washed his face with cold water to get rid of the tearstains. He then plugged the sink up and filled it to near the brim with warm water, and placed a fresh towel next to it.

"There you go. A bath-pool." he said as he sat down on the floor with his back to the cabinet that held the sink, so he wouldn't see anything.

Alfred stared at it, and in seconds started to undress. "THAT'S AWESOME! SKINNY-DIPPING!" He jumped into the water and swam around for two minutes before climbing out. He sat down in the towel, and rolled himself up in it.

Arthur chuckled as he heard the splashing. "You know you're supposed to soak in there to get warm, and wash yourself."

"Uh huuuuh." Alfred rolled out of it, and got dressed again, his hair still wet. "Mkay, I'm done."

"Can I get up, then?"

Alfred jumped down into Arthur's hair. "Yeah!"

Arthur stood up, keeping his head perfectly still so Alfred wouldn't fall off. He turned around and looked into the mirror, searching for Alfred in the reflection. "Where are you?"

Alfred popped out by his bangs. "Ha! Couldn't fine me, sucker!"

Arthur chuckled. "Guess not." he said as he let the water drain away from the sink and hung the towel back up.

Alfred held onto his hair, trying not to fall but suddenly slipping. "GAH-SHIT!"

Arthur winced as his hair was pulled, and he stuck a hand under Alfred, ready to catch him. "I've got you."

Alfred let go, and fell into his hand. "Sorry..."

Arthur frowned a bit, puzzled. "Why are you sorry? Nothing happened."

"I pulled at your hair..."

Arthur rolled his eyes. "_That's_ what you're sorry about? That's nothing." He walked back to his bedroom and placed him back onto the pillow, pulling the blanket over him.

Alfred looked at him. "Are you gonna stay?"

Arthur hesitated. "Do you want me to?"

Alfred nodded. "Y-Yeah..."

"Alright then." He moved Alfred's pillow to one side of the bed and climbed up under the covers on the other.

Alfred looked at him, then looked away again. "Don't do that again."

Arthur looked at him. "Do what?"

"Worry. I was fine." Alfred burrowed under the covers.

"Alfred, you're sick. Even heroes need someone to take care of them sometimes." Arthur hesitantly moved a bit closer to him.

"Not that. Outside."

Arthur stared. "How could I not worry?"

"Cuz I was fine. And you had every right not to."

Arthur pursed his lips and moved Alfred's pillow closer to himself. "Perhaps you were fine then, but who knows a few hours from now? I suppose I had every right not to, but I _did_ worry, Alfred. I would always worry."

"I would have been fine..." Alfred said softly, still looking away.

"But I wouldn't know that." Arthur said, matching his tone. "I would have been sitting in here, worried sick about you, and it would have driven me insane." He moved closer again.

"You shoulda..."

"Had you been in your normal form, perhaps you would be fine. But not...not like this..."

Alfred looked at him. "What? I'm perfectly fine, like this or not!"

"Perhaps you are, but I'd rather not risk that. How do you feel? Are you warm enough?"

"I...I'm good..."

Arthur sighed. "Alright then...good night, I suppose." he murmured before rolling onto his back and staring up at the ceiling. By now, he was near the middle of the bed and Alfred was only about a foot away from him.

Alfred looked at him and slowly scooted closer to him. "England...?"

Arthur turned his head to the side so he could see Alfred. "Yes...?"

"Um...I...don't wanna leave in the morning...just in case...would you..."

"Leave? Why would you leave? What do you want me to do?"

"...I...put your hand on me?"

Arthur rolled back onto his side and lightly draped his hand over him. "Why would you leave?" he repeated softly.

Alfred covered him himself with the blanket again, pulling the cloth underneath Arthur's hand. "G'night..."

"Alfred..." Arthur whispered, then decided against it. "Good night..."

Alfred closed his eyes and fell asleep seconds later. Arthur smiled slightly and closed his eyes as well.

* * *

**A/N**: Some more peace...but how long will it last? XD


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N**: Next chapter guys! Longer one this time, so stay around for the ride~!

Warning- Slight Skyfall spoiler ahead, for any of you who haven't seen the movie. It's down towards the middle.

* * *

When Alfred woke up the next morning, Arthur's hand was still draped over him and he hugged one of the fingers. Arthur felt the movement through his dream and the fingers twitched slightly, but he didn't move other than that or wake up. Alfred looked up at him, and when he didn't move he closed his eyes again, trying to once again fall asleep.

Arthur moaned softly a few minutes later and his hand slid off Alfred as he blinked awake.

Alfred blinked awake as well, and he snickered. "Nice moan, Iggy."

"Mmm?" Arthur turned his head to look at Alfred through half-closed eyes. "Shut up, I was asleep."

Alfred snickered again. "Mhmmmmmmmmmm."

"Good morning to you too." Arthur said, sitting up.

Alfred laughed lightly. "Moooorning."

Arthur frowned as he got up and looked out the window. It was raining again.

Alfred looked at him. "What?" he turned to look out the window. "It rains a lot here, Artie."

"That's not it." He went into the closet and got changed quickly before going back to the bed.

"Then what's wrong?"

"It's nothing." He set Alfred on the night table and made the bed.

Alfred moved over to the edge of the table and stared intently at him. "Tell me!"

Arthur paused in his work and was silent for a moment. "How can you smile or laugh? After...you know..." he asked quietly.

"What?"

"You heard me."

"After...what?"

Arthur sat down on the edge of the bed and rested his hands on his knees. "After last night." _'It's too soon...'_ he thought.

Alfred awkwardly shifted his weight on his other leg. "...I...what am I supposed to be? Mad? ...I...I try to forget about it..."

Arthur simply nodded silently, lost in thought for a few seconds. Then he silently stood up and held his hand out to him.

Alfred carefully climbed onto it and settled into the middle of his palm. "You okay?"

Arthur forced a small smile as he looked down at him. "Yes, I'm fine." He went downstairs, grabbing his basket of sewing stuff on the way. He placed both of them on the kitchen table and went over to the fridge. "You hungry?"

Alfred nodded, shifting to a more comfortable position on the table. "Yeah...Y-You're still mad aren't you?"

Arthur shook his head. "Of course I'm not. I never was." He took out the half of the cream puff Alfred had started yesterday and handed it to him.

Alfred just looked at it. "I...I'm not hungry, actually..."

"Please eat. You still haven't fully recovered yet."

Alfred smiled at him and shook his head. "I'm totally fine, I'm over it...I'm not hungry, really."

His brow furrowing, Arthur placed the cream puff back in the bag and sat down by the table, opening the basket. Alfred watched him.

"Legit? You're gonna sew and stuff?"

"I'm going to make you a new shirt, so hush up."

"What? Is that pink- it better be a shirt and not a dress, dummy!"

Arthur's hands moved over the pink material and picked out a soft cream, along with red, white, and blue thread. "Is this good?" he asked, showing the materials to him.

"Fuck yeah!" Alfred smiled.

Arthur smiled slightly as well in return, but it wasn't really enthusiastic. If Alfred was going to move on, then he decided that he would too. But it took him a lot more effort, and he wasn't that successful. He went to work, first carefully cutting out the template for a simple long-sleeved shirt and then sewing it together with cream-coloured thread. He tossed it to Alfred.

"Try that on for size."

Alfred pulled his sweatshirt off, replacing it with the makeshift shirt and spinning in a slow circle so Arthur could get a good look at all angles. "Well?"

Arthur leaned in and scrutinized it closely. "Pretty good. Now take it off."

Alfred stepped back from him, smiling. "Why? Can't I keep this?"

"I'm going to make a design on it. Now take it off."

Alfred snickered, stepping back again. "Nope~!"

Arthur reached out and held him in place with one hand, using the other to carefully remove the shirt. "Thank you." he said, picking up the needle again.

Alfred struggled vigorously as it was taken off, then pouted at him. "Hey-! C'moooon!"

"Shush, I think you'll like it better when I'm done with it." Arthur replied, pulling the blue thread through the needle and starting on the flag.

Alfred sighed, sitting down cross-legged. He spoke after a few seconds. "Are you done yet?"

Arthur ignored him for a while concentrating on stitching up the design and not screwing it up. When he was done with the blue thread, he pulled the white one through, then repeated the process with the red, until the design was done.

"Yes, here you are." he said, handing Alfred the shirt with the newly sewn-on American flag on the front. He turned away from him and went upstairs quickly to place the basket back in its correct spot.

Alfred stared at it for a moment, speechless. "Whoaaaaaaaaaaa...th-thanks man..." He immediately put it on.

Arthur came back into the kitchen. "Don't mention it." he said in a tone that implied that Alfred really shouldn't mention it. Ever. "Are you hungry now?"

Alfred looked at the ground, twisting his heel a bit. "Um...yeah..."

Arthur handed him the cream puff and took one for himself. He glanced at the clock and saw it was nearly 12 as he sat down. Alfred ate it quickly, patting down his shirt when he finished.

"So, the dreaded question: What do you want to do?" Arthur asked.

Alfred groaned. "Ughhhhhhhhh! I waaaaaaaaaant tooooooooo….. I dunnnnnnooooooo!"

Arthur chuckled. "How about we go see a movie?"

"What? GO see a movie? What movie?"

Arthur nodded. "Yes. GO see a movie. And...well...the new James Bond is out..."

Alfred stared at him. "Atta...m-movie theatre?" He would love to go but- the...the darkness of the whole situation was starting to scare him. "You'd sneak me in? But that's not le- you would needa pay for my ticket too..."

Arthur rolled his eyes. "Yes at a movie theatre. And I wouldn't, because no one would see you." He leaned back in his chair, smirking.

Alfred glared at him. "Why are y'smirking?!"

"Well, I thought you'd be excited at the prospect of a free movie. And popcorn." Arthur said, raising an eyebrow.

"Th-that doesn't explain why you're smirking."

Arthur's smirk faded away and he sighed. "No reason. Do you want to go or not?"

Alfred's curiosity brightened up. "Whyyyy were you?"

"Did I not just explain a moment ago?"

"...You said no reason. C'mon, tell me!"

"Well, earlier you were going to say, 'But that's not legal'...Since when do you care about stuff like that? I didn't think you would refuse a free movie. Guess I was wrong." Arthur stood up and went over to the stove to make some tea.

Alfred pursed his lips. "Yeah well...um...yeah, I totally wanna free movie. But Bond...? Can we see Wreck it Ralph or Cloud Atlas or somethin?"

"Bond is an action movie. Don't you like those?" Arthur said, not bothering to turn around.

Alfred laughed. "Yeah, but Bond is British. You'll totally be spazzing and I wanna spaz with you –andmakefunofyou- when I'm normal size~!"

Arthur's cheeks heated up. "I will not be spazzing!"

Alfred chuckled again. "You totally will! You spaz at chick flicks!"

Arthur's face heated up more. "I-I do not!"

"You do~! Artie, you always cry at the sad parts and you spaz all the time! Now that I think about it, you always spaz at pirate movies too! It's so funny~!"

Arthur whirled around, glaring at Alfred. "I do not! I do not spaz, and I most certainly do NOT cry!"

Alfred pursed his lips again. "You do, Iggy! Always! It's always cute cuz you get all helpless and wimpy right then too, as you spaz and stuff~!"

"I AM NOT WIMPY! OR HELPLESS! OR CUTE!"

"You are~!" Alfred said, smirking

"S-Shut up, I'm not..." Arthur muttered, going back to making tea.

"You're wimpy and helpless and pathetic and cute when you get all teaaaaary eyed~!"

Arthur froze. "Did you just call me pathetic?"

"Hmmmmmmmmm?"

Arthur turned around, two cups of tea in his hands. He set the smaller one down by Alfred. "Did you just call me pathetic?" he repeated, voice low.

"Well, like, cute, like, you always, like, uhh, like, hmm." He tried to think of an example.

"When I always _what_?"

"Pathetic, like cute!" Arthur said, as he kept searching for an example.

"I am neither pathetic nor cute!"

Alfred looked up. "You're both~!" he replied

Arthur poked him. "I am not!"

Alfred fell back laughing. "You ARE~!"

"I am not!" Arthur said forcefully, pressing down lightly on his chest with his pointer finger.

"Are too!" Alfred tried to stand.

Arthur kept him down with little effort. "Am not! And I won't let you up until you admit it."

"I'll be down for a while then, and you can't keep me down forever!" He moved to the right, slipping away and scrambling up. "HA!"

Arthur caught him in his hand and dangled him a few inches of the table. "Admit it, I'm not!"

Alfred tried to get away from the hold. "NOPE~! YOU'RE CUTE HELPLESS AND PATHETIC IGGY!"

"I AM NOT! JUST ADMIT IT ALREADY!"

"I CAN'T LIE~!"

"I am not pathetic not cute!"

Alfred smirked. "Paaaaaathheeeeetttiiicccccc~!" he replied

"S-SHUT UP!"

Alfred snickered some more. "PATHETIC~!"

"Stop it!" Arthur shook him very lightly.

"Uwah!" Alfred tried not to get dizzy. "Pathetic!" he repeated.

"Forget it, we're not going anywhere." He placed Alfred onto the table and sat down on his chair, sipping at his tea.

"What?! That's not fair, I was just..." Alfred sat up, smirking. "Speaking the truth~!"

"Sometimes, truth is better left unspoken." Arthur replied, crossing his legs.

"Awww Artie, don't be shyyyyyyyy, it's okay to be helpless pathetic and cute~!"

"Shut up! We're not going anywhere!"

Alfred shrugged. "Doesn't change what you aaaaare~!" he snickered.

"Stop it! I'm not pathetic!"

Alfred jumped up, smiling again. "You are! And you're lucky I'm small or I'd prove it~!"

"You? Prove it? Don't make me laugh."

Alfred smirked. "You'd be surprised! Wait till I get tall again!"

"Mhm, sure, we'll see."

"Mhm. I'll take pictures too!" Alfred snickered.

"Pictures of what?"

"Of you! Being pathetic and cute! And I'll give 'em to everyone if you ever deny it!" Alfred crossed his arms with a grin. "Yup. You're gonna look awesomely _pathetic_."

"Try it and I'll smash the camera to bits!" Arthur growled, eyes narrowed.

"Oh, we'll see!" Alfred replied, chuckling.

"You're heartless!" Arthur suddenly wailed, burying his face in his arms. He sniffed a bit, staring at the worn table top.

Alfred stared at him. "Hey, pathetic in a cute way, Artie. Why are you all low an' weak and stuff all of a sudden?"

"I-I don't want anyone to see pictures of me, especially that frog!" Arthur cried, sobbing a bit.

Alfred walked over to him. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, you're scaring me Artie, y'got all...he won't get any, I promise- goddamn..."

"But I don't want anyone else to see any, either!" The sobs grew louder.

"Gooddamn- th-they won't, Iggy, I promise!"

Arthur sniffed loudly. "Y-You promise? Like, really promise?" he asked, his voice slightly watery and yet hopeful at the same time.

Alfred snickered. "Yes, I promise. Y'know, you just sounded like me when I was a kid!"

Arthur's sobs abruptly turned into laughter and he suddenly sat up, smirking. "Perfect. See? That wasn't all so hard, was it?" he asked, his smile turning smug.

"WHA- That's not fair!" Alfred then smirked himself. "Fine, I'll film it instead. And by that you mean you _do_ believe I would be able to get you all pathetic and stuff?" he shot him a smug smile back.

"I'd love to see you try. Mint and the others will stop you, not to mention me." Arthur's expression didn't change.

Alfred snickered. "_Pathetic_, Artie. You gonna ask your _imaginary friends_ to help you? I'll easy take you down myself, Britain."

"They're NOT imaginary!" Arthur yelled.

"They are~!"

"ARE NOT!"

Alfred laughed. "Are too! And you'll lose anyways, cute pathetic Artie~!"

Arthur slumped to the table, defeated. For real this time. "Believe what you want, it's not true." he muttered.

Alfred snickered again. "I won this argument~! Ha, ha!" He walked over to him. "Awwwww, THATS so cute and pathetic~!"

Arthur didn't move. "S-Shut up! And you didn't win; I just don't feel like arguing with an idi- individual like you."

Alfred clenched his teeth. "I heard that. Idiot, hmm?"

"That's not what I said." Arthur said quietly.

"You were gonna say that! And now you're lying?! THATS pathetic, England."

"Well, I was going to..." Arthur sat up and gently grabbed him. "But THAT would be a lie."

"What?!"

"Well, though you sometimes do silly things, I don't believe you're truly an idiot, so if I called you one that would be a lie."

Alfred crossed his arms. "Then why'd it even come to mind?" he grabbed at his fingers. "Whatcha picking me up for?"

Arthur shrugged. "It still feels a bit weird. And it came to mind because of impulse, I suppose..." He ran a finger down Alfred's back, looking at him intently.

Alfred shivered slightly, a nice feeling going down his back. Arthur noticed and repeated the action, this time pressing a bit harder.

The tiny nation flinched a bit more. "S-Stoppit."

"So strange..." Arthur murmured, but loosened his hold, allowing Alfred to escape if he so desired.

Alfred toppled onto the table. "H-How's that strange?!"

"It specifically is not. You in your current state are." Arthur replied, folding his hands under his chin.

Alfred looked up at him. "What?! The hell does that mean?"

"You're exactly the same as you were before, just smaller. It's a strange feeling, to hold you."

Alfred suddenly snickered. "Why, cuz usually you're not strong enough to?"

Arthur rolled his eyes. "No, it's not that. I don't think you'd quite understand, never having held someone so small before."

Alfred shrugged. "Fine..." But he smiled again. "So you admit, you can't?"

"I'll admit you're strong, when you're in your normal form."

Alfred smirked. "Hell yeah I am, stronger than you~!"

It was Arthur's turn to shrug. "I'll admit to that as well."

"Whoot! Now I needa record you saying it!"

"Yeah...no. That's not going to happen."

Arthur retrieved his laptop and typed in the name of the local theatre, looking for show times.

Alfred snickered again. "I'll make you, eventually Artie!" he replied, climbing onto the keyboard.

Arthur picked him up by the shirt and moved him off to the side. "Keep dreaming. Now stop disrupting me."

"Not dreaming, BELIEVING~!" Alfred replied, jumping onto the keyboard again.

Arthur picked him up again, but this time he held him high in the air. "Listen up, little guy, if you want to go see a movie, you're going to have to let me look up the time. So lay off for a moment." With that, he placed him down as far away on the table as he could reach.

Alfred crossed his arms when in the air. "M'not little!" he walked back to the laptop and stared at the screen.

"Yes you are." Arthur said as he typed in 'Skyfall' in the search engine. "There's a showing at 2, then at 5, and then another one at 8."

Alfred jumped up and down a few times. "5!"

"Alright. I suppose we could walk around for a bit, and maybe grab a bite to eat before."

"Walk around? With tiny me?"

"You could be on my shoulder. Or in my pocket."

Alfred immediately shook his head. "No way am I going into your pocket!"

"Why not? It's warm and hidden."

"Cuz i-it feels like I'm being held down and stuff. And a hero doesn't do that."

"Alright. Shoulder it is. Come on, then." Arthur said, standing up and offering his palm to him.

Alfred climbed onto it. "Mkay..."

Arthur set him on his shoulder and went over to the closet, withdrawing a scarf from it and wrapping it carefully around his neck so that Alfred was out of sight.

"Is this good?"

Alfred pushed at it frantically. "L-LEMME OUT!"

"What's wrong? It's not too tight, is it?" Arthur loosened it a bit more.

"I can't breathe, England!"

Arthur, immediately unwound the scarf and tossed it aside. "Is that better?" he asked, concerned.

Alfred nodded. "Yup!"

Arthur nodded too and instead pulled up the collar of his jacket, moving Alfred so he was inside of it. The space was open, to allow Alfred air, but it was well hidden. "How's that?"

Alfred nodded, holding onto the others neck. "That's good."

Arthur shivered slightly at the touch before walking out. They still had about three and a half hours until the showing, so he walked first to a small, pretty much deserted park by the theatre and sat down on a bench.

"Would you like to come out for a while?" he asked in a low voice.

Alfred immediately did. "Whoaaaaaaaaaaa- what are we gonna do here?" he asked.

Arthur shrugged slightly. "I don't know. We have over three hours. You want to run around?"

Alfred grabbed his coat and slid down the side of it, landing on his lap. "I dunno...sure..."

Arthur picked him up and moved to a quieter corner of the park, away from the main path. He sat down in the grass underneath a tree and released Alfred, who fell into the grass laughing. He started slowly walking away, through the tall grass. Arthur struggled to keep sight of him after a while.

"Just stay close to me."

"Uh huh.." Alfred replied as he kept going, not turning to see how far away he was.

Arthur suddenly couldn't see him anymore. "Alfred?" he called, his voice a bit higher than usual.

Alfred turned, and started frantically looking around. "E-England!?" He walked a bit more, but couldn't see him for some reason.

Arthur stood up and started walking around slowly, extremely careful of where he stepped. "Alfred? Alfred, where are you?"

Alfred turned around again. "Arthur? Where the fu-" he jumped back when a foot fell next to him. "H-HEY!"

Arthur froze and fell to his knees. "Bloody- Alfred, are you alright? I'm sorry!"

Alfred nodded shakily. "Yeah. yeah, I'm fine..."

"Are you sure?" Arthur exhaled slowly and gently touched him on the shoulder.

Alfred nodded again. "Y-Yeah. Can we not do that again...?"

Arthur agreed readily. "Of course not. I-If we hurry, we can still make the 2:00 showing, and then we can just go ho- to my house."

"Y-Yeah..."

Arthur picked him up and placed him back by his collar, then stood up and walked briskly to the theatre. They made it in time, and soon were seated in the back of the room.

"Can you see well?" he whispered.

Alfred nodded. "Do you have popcorn?"

"No, but I'll get some later that we can take home."

Alfred started jumping up and down at the end of the movie. "POPCORN NOW!"

Arthur hurriedly placed a finger over his mouth. "Shhh!" he hissed. He was still crying a bit over the death of M, but quickly covered it up so Alfred wouldn't know. "I'll get the popcorn, but shut up before someone hears you!" he said as he went to go buy the popcorn.

Alfred snickered, repeatedly poking his neck. "Get extra EXTRA butter on it!"

Arthur ignored him, but got the extra butter. He walked quickly home and set Alfred on the coffee table before getting a plate and spilling some popcorn onto it for him. He set the plate onto the table next to him and settled down on the couch.

Alfred immediately ran over to it, and started to nibble on the gigantic pieces. "Awww, I wanted EXTRA EXTRA!"

"Be happy you got any butter." Arthur said, shaking his head slowly.

Alfred frowned. "Fine, thanks..."

Arthur sighed. "Sorry..." he muttered.

"What?"

"Sorry for not getting you more butter." Arthur repeated, looking fixedly at the wall.

Alfred snickered at him. "Are you legit? It's FINE Artie.."

Arthur nodded absently as he reached down and took a piece for himself.

Alfred jumped up, managing to grab hold of the piece before it was lifted out of his reach. He hovered in the air, trying to pull it down. "THIS ONES MINE!"

Arthur merely lowered him and the piece back to the table before choosing another one.

Alfred dropped the piece he was holding and grabbed the other one. "Nope!"

"Which one then?"

Alfred laughed. "WAIT!"

He examined all of his popcorn before choosing the biggest puff and holding it up to him.

Arthur accepted it graciously. "Thank you." he said as he ate it, then leaned back again.

"Want another one?"

"No thank you, you seem to be enjoying it." Arthur said with a smile.

Alfred held the first one he tried to take out to him. "TAKE IT!"

Arthur took the piece after a moment but didn't eat it, instead throwing it gently up and down in his hands like a ball.

Alfred glared at him. "DON'T PLAY WITH YOUR FOOD~!"

Arthur stopped throwing the popcorn around and placed it back on the table. "Yes, _Mother_."

Alfred pouted, crossing his arms. "Shaddup! I'd be the dad if anything!"

Arthur chuckled. "Nah, you're more of the mother."

Alfred froze, glaring at him completely. "H-HELL NO!"

"Oh, yes."

Alfred grabbed some popcorn, throwing it at him. "NO!"

Arthur dodged the puffs easily. "Of course Alfred, whatever makes you feel better." he teased.

Alfred's cheeks puffed out and he turned slightly red. "I-I'm not!"

"Of coooouuuuurse you're not."

Alfred blushed a bit more. "Shaddup!" he threw another popcorn piece at him.

Arthur dodged again, laughing.

Alfred stopped, glaring at him. "S-Stop laughing!" His cheeks had heated up to their climax point.

Arthur laughed harder, actually bending over from laughing so much. "You- As much as I dislike him, you look like one of Spain's tomatoes!" he managed to get out.

Alfred glared at him more. "SHADDUP! I don't! Stop it!"

He threw one at his head. The piece hit Arthur's hair and stuck in it as he slowly straightened, taking deep breaths to calm down. Alfred snickered suddenly, laughing at him in turn.

Arthur glared at him. "What's so funny?"

"Now you know how I felt!" Alfred laughed out.

Arthur glared some more. "Felt when? I fail to see what's funny here."

Alfred kept on snickering. "You have _popcorn_ in your _hair_ sucker!"

Arthur pulled the piece out. "It's not that funny..." he muttered, throwing it at Alfred.

Alfred caught it and threw it back, hitting his hair again.

Arthur pulled it out again and dropped it onto the table. "Who's playing with food now?"

Alfred laughed. "It doesn't count! I'm tiny!" He grabbed another piece and ate it.

"It does too count! Size makes no difference."

Alfred bit into it shaking his head, and sticking his tongue out.

"I can still pull that out for you, so I suggest you hide it." Arthur commented, raising an eyebrow.

Alfred smirked at him, sticking his tongue out again. "Y'wouldn't!"

Arthur shrugged. "Depends on how annoying you are."

Alfred glared at him, his tongue still out. "I'm not annoying!" He threw the piece at him.

Arthur reached out and picked him up, holding high in air. "Yes, you frequently are."

Alfred started kicking at him. " I'm not annoying!"

"Sometimes you are." Arthur lowered him into his lap.

Alfred started hitting him in the stomach. "M' not!"

Arthur smiled, for he barely felt the hits. "Mhmm, sure you aren't."

"I'M NOT! SCREW YOU!" Alfred grabbed his shirt and pulled at it.

"Ooh, that hurts so much." Arthur commented, watching him.

Alfred's cheeks puffed out again, as he pulled more on his shirt. "Shaddup loser!"

Arthur smirked and began humming an old lullaby, one that he hadn't sung in a few centuries. He rested his head against the back of the couch.

Alfred hit at him more. "Don't ignore me!"

Arthur paused. "I'm not ignoring you. I thought you told me to shut up?" he said, looking down at him before resuming his humming. He briefly wondered how long it would be until Alfred recognized the tune, and if he ever would.

Alfred froze. "I-" He shut up himself and sat down on his leg, turning around from him and fiddling with a seam on his jeans.

Arthur paused his humming again. "You what?"

Alfred shook his head. "Sorry. he mumbled.

"What are you sorry for?"

I didn't mean that, y'know.."

Arthur smiled and ruffled his hair with his finger gently. "I know."

Alfred pursed his lips. "You can still sing y'know..."

"I wasn't singing."

Alfred shrugged slightly. "Still..."

Arthur started humming again, a little louder now. Alfred sat there listening, still looking at his jeans. Arthur finished and sighed contentedly.

Alfred looked up at him. "It was nice..." he said quietly.

"Thank you. I...used to hum it a lot a few centuries ago." Arthur replied softly.

"I know..."

"You recognized it?"

Alfred nodded slightly. "Yeah..."

"I didn't think you would."

Alfred looked at him. "Why?"

Arthur shrugged and stayed quiet for a while. "I didn't think you cared enough to remember it." he said eventually.

Alfred turned immediately. "What?! How could you fucking say that- of course I did!"

"I know that now." Arthur said quickly, hoping to avoid another argument.

Alfred kept staring at him. "How could you ever think I wouldn't care?!"

"Please...let's not go back to that."

Alfred stood up. "HOW!?"

"Please Alfred...let's just say I had my reasons. Can't we keep it at that and spare ourselves even more pain?"

Alfred kept staring at him, his fingers curling into fists. "Even MORE pain?! Pain is not knowing, England. And I wanna know why the fuck you told yourself such lies!"

"They're not lies. Even my own bloody family hates me for what I did centuries ago, they don't care about what I did or what the hell I hummed!"

"What'd you do!? And no they don't- not all of it!"

Arthur scoffed. "Yeah, who doesn't hate me? Scotland? Ireland, perhaps?" he asked harshly.

"I don't. Neither does Mattie. Or France."

"France does _not_ count. The frog would sleep with, or _love_, as he so erroneously puts it, anyone if he got the chance."

"N-No. And he does count, everyone counts!"

Arthur sighed. "Just drop it. I admitted I misjudged you, so would you let it go?"

"You always do that, you ALWAYS DO THAT! JUST GO THROUGH WITH SOMETHING FOR ONCE!"

Arthur shook his head. "Not this. Just let it go, Alfred."

"Of course, of course, how could I have thought otherwise?" Alfred said, mockingly raising his arms from his sides, then lowering them.

"Don't talk about it as if you know my reasons." Arthur growled.

Alfred glared at him harder. "Too fucking late. Don't you talk about it as if your reasons weren't so apparent and wimpy."

Arthur forced himself not to do anything stupid that could possible hurt the smaller person. "They weren't." he said evenly.

"They fucking were." Alfred stabbed him in the stomach with his pointer finger. "Utterly pathetic and useless."

Arthur swept him off his lap, to the other side of the couch, but said nothing. He crossed his arms and stared straight ahead, teeth gritted.

Alfred fell onto the cushion, covering his face with his arms to avoid injury to it. He got up slowly, walking back. "So you agree? Or are you just _acting like your reasons?_"

Arthur continued to ignore him.

Alfred climbed onto his lap again. After a few moments of staring up at him he shook his head, teeth gritted. "Just like them, England. Utterly pathetic."

Arthur simply pushed him off again This time Alfred caught himself, using his finger, and swung himself back onto his lap.

"Fucking pathetic England."

Arthur clenched his jaw even more, but otherwise didn't react.

Alfred kept staring at him. "You don't change do you? Were you really this pathetic back then too? When you were a pirate?"

Arthur closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the cushions.

"You _were_? How the fuck did you win _anything_?"

Arthur didn't move.

"Pathetic." Alfred spat.

Arthur still didn't react.

Alfred kept staring at him, not moving himself. "No, seriously. 'World was changing' and you still aren't. Still useless. Still pathetic, and wimpy and everything." He turned away from him. "But seriously, that is pathetic. Not defending yourself."

Arthur pretended it was Scotland saying all those things. It made them easier to bear.

Alfred jumped off him and onto the coffee table. "Yeah, you keep doing that. You keep _ignoring the fucking truth_, ignore the people hitting you all the time." He grabbed a piece of popcorn and flung it at him. "NOTICE WHERE YOU ARE! HERE! STOP BEING SO PATHETIC ENGLAND! STOP IT!"

Arthur didn't open his eyes and felt the popcorn strike him. He still didn't move, though he started feeling a certain wetness behind his eyes. He bit his tongue in order to try and stop the flow before it started.

Alfred kept looking at him, before he started to laugh nervously, it growing in volume. "You do that! You keep being as pathetic as you fucking are now. You just keep sitting there, taking it from ME. Who's the fucking mom, now, England? I'm smaller than you and I'm taking you on a lot easier then if I was taller."

Arthur kept silent and still.

"Well fuck you. Don't move, don't say anything." Alfred jumped off the table and quietly made his way up the stairs.

Arthur strained his ears, listening to him leave. When he did, he finally opened his eyes and hurriedly wiped the wetness away. Then, he lay down on the couch, hugging a cushion to his chest, and stared at the blank TV.

* * *

**A/N**: And here we go again...


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N**: Shorter chapter again! We're already way past the halfway point of the story, even if time-wise only a few days have passed.

* * *

Alfred climbed up to his bedroom and looked around. When he finally spotted his phone, it was way up on his desk. He left it there, knowing he wouldn't be able to reach it. He then climbed under the bed and sat in the farthest corner, hugging his knees. He tried to forget everything he had just said. Seconds later, he had fallen asleep.

Arthur stayed like that for almost an hour, until he finally got up and went to the kitchen. He put the kettle on the stove and leaned heavily against the counter, waiting for the water to boil.

Alfred woke up about an hour later, looking around. He heard nothing from his spot so he pushed himself further up against the wall and closed his eyes again.

The water started to boil, so Arthur took down his cup, as well as a smaller one. He filled them both, and then went upstairs with the smaller one. Not really knowing where Alfred was, he simply set it down on the middle of the floor of his bedroom before going back downstairs and sipping at his own tea.

Alfred flinched when he heard movement and moved back deeper under the bed. He stared at the cup that was placed in the middle of the room. He waited until Arthur walked out and until his footsteps had gone down the stairs. He then slowly stood, and made his way over to it. He looked at it, finding it filled with tea. Watching it for a few moments, he returned to his spot, not touching the tea.

Arthur busied himself doing odd cleaning and tidying jobs. After a while, he went back to check on the cup. He sighed when he found it cold and untouched, and took it downstairs, pouring the tea down the kitchen sink and washing the cup.

Alfred looked away when he heard him come back, and he heard the loud sigh, which caused him to shut his eyes, even a bit from embarrassment. He listened to Arthur leave and gently rubbed his arm. But he still didn't move.

Arthur set down a plate with some cream puffs on the floor of the kitchen and went to the foot of the stairs.

"If you get hungry, there's food out for you." he called, then retrieved a blanket and book from the library and settled on the couch with it. He wanted to immerse himself in words, go to another world or dimension and forget about everything that had transpired, even for a little while. He had difficulties actually focusing on whatever story he was reading (he hadn't bothered to even look at the title), but he forced his eyes to stay on the page.

Alfred hugged his knees closer, but made sure not to move. Seconds later he made up his mind and got up from his spot, climbing out from under his bed.

He was done with what he wanted to do in an hour, and he quietly as ever made his way downstairs. He found Arthur reading on the couch, and that sight stabbed him a bit more. He kept walking against the line of the wall, making sure the other didn't see him, and climbed under the couch, waiting.

Arthur eventually couldn't read any more, so he allowed the book to slip through his fingers and fall to the floor. Throwing the blanket off himself, he got up and quickly made his way upstairs. This had gone on long enough. He had to find Alfred. When he reached the doorway to his room, however, he stopped and stared in shock. On the floor, spelled out of blankets and clothes and some other randomly assorted objects, was a single word:

_Sorry_.

"No, no, ALFRED!" he yelled, his heart sinking. "WHERE ARE YOU!" There was panic in his voice as he began searching the room.

Alfred's heart was caught in his throat when he heard the yells from upstairs. He made his way to the closest window. Grabbing the curtain he climbed up it, to the window. It was slightly opened and he kneeled under it, pushing it up higher. When he finally did, and he climbed out onto the window sill.

"ALFRED, PLEASE COME OUT!" Arthur's voice grew higher in pitch yet again. "I'm sorry I ignored you, and you're right, now please come out!" He left the bedroom and searched the rest of the floor.

Alfred didn't even try to close the window, and he jumped onto the nearest bush, and started climbing down to ground level.

Arthur suddenly remembered the food he set out and dashed down stairs. He froze again when he saw the open window and his heart plummeted.

"No...not this again..." he whispered before he pulled on a coat, boots, and ran outside. "ALFRED!" he yelled as loud as he could, which was pretty loud. "If you're out here, anywhere, say something!"

Alfred sank back, hiding in the bush when he heard his voice, biting his lip not to say anything.

"Of course you wouldn't say anything, not after you stayed silent for so long last night." Arthur said out loud, starting to babble. "I really don't want a repeat of that...I'm sorry if I said anything to upset you, but please, come out. You still haven't recovered from being sick, and it might get worse if you stay out here. Or you might get hurt, or eaten. I don't want to scare you- if you're even paying attention- but I-I don't want anything to happen to you. It's my fault you're like this, and if anything did happen, I wouldn't forgive myself. The offer still stands, you know. I'll turn you back, just say the words. Just please, Alfred, COME OUT!" After searching the yard, and getting into those damnable thorn bushes again, he slumped down next to a bush by the side of the house and buried his face in his arms. "Please..."

Alfred's eyes shut immediately. There is no way, there is no way this was happening AGAIN. _'Pretend you didn't hear him…'_ he forced himself to think as he quietly made his way to the other side of the bush, where he was looking at the front yard. Hoping the other didn't see him, he hesitated before walking into the tall grass.

Arthur started to sob. "Please Alfred, I'll do anything!" he yelled, voice cracking.

"Stop, stop, stop. It's not your fault, stop. I'm fine, I'll be fine, okay?" Alfred said, suddenly realizing what he had done and covering his mouth. He then immediately started to run deeper into the grass.

Arthur's head shot up and he stood, scanning the grass for any movement. He carefully walked forward a few steps. "Alfred?" he asked, breathing hard.

Alfred stopped, not moving, and not breathing a word as he felt a shadow looming over him. _'Please don't find me, please don't find me.'_

Arthur fell to his knees in the middle of the lawn. "Alfred, please..." he whispered, putting his hands on he ground for support and lowering his head.

Alfred let out another breath. "I'm fine, I'll be fine. Stop, please. D-Don't catch me, please."

Arthur turned to the voice, which came from near him. His eyes widened with shock as he found Alfred not a foot from where he was sitting. He slowly reached out, but stopped short of actually touching him and instead placed his hand palm-down on the grass next to him.

"Alfred?" he whispered.

Alfred looked down. " Sorry...again." He turned around and started to walk away.

Arthur instinctively reached out and grasped the back of his shirt, gently pulling him back to himself. "Alfred, don't leave."

Alfred flinched, and started pulling forward. "I needa. I'm pathetic. It's not even funny anymore.

Arthur let go of his shirt and instead picked him up and brought him close to his stomach. "You're not pathetic. Don't say that."

Alfred tried to pull out of his grip. "Shut up. You know I am- put me down!"

"I _know_ you're not. And put you down so what? You can run away?"

Alfred shook his head violently, still thrashing around. "Don't do this again, don't! I'll leave England! I will..." He started to cry into his shirt. "I...I can't let you stop me again. Please. I'll be fine."

Arthur stroked his back with his fingers, trying to calm him down. "But I can't let you leave." he said softly, looking down at him sadly. "You won't be fine, we both know that. So please stay..."

"I'll be fine, I swear. " Alfred lied, choking the words out. He was starting to tire down, but he kept moving his shoulders back and forth. "Leggo..."

Arthur stood up, holding Alfred to his stomach. "I can't. I wouldn't forgive myself if I did."

Alfred felt himself being lifted. "No, no, no, no! LET ME DOWN, ENGLAND! "

"Stop saying that!" Arthur pleaded.

"No, no. I-I told you I was fine, let go. Fucking let go. I-I can't let you, I can't let you stop me, not again. Please." Alfred said loudly, still struggling.

"Why can't you?" Arthur asked quietly.

"Because I can't. I'm sorry. I just keep going off about you with nonsense and I'm pathetic and stupid all the time. I need to stay away from you now, let go."

Arthur stared at him. "Y-You need to stay away from me? That's bullshit, Alfred! Complete and utter bullshit! You're not bloody pathetic, and not stupid! So stop putting yourself down!"

"You're horribly stupid. Y-You didn't say shit throughout everything I said. Every pathetic and stupid thing I said." Alfred looked away. "Stop lying. Put me down. Now." He wanted to run more then ever now.

"That doesn't mean anything. And I'm not lying. Alfred..." He squeezed him ever so slightly, so that it was similar to a hug. "I want you to stay."

Alfred wanted nothing more than to leave. And he wanted to die after he sputtered out the next words. "Y-You can't have everything you want. Let me down."

Arthur's steps faltered when he heard that and he sat down hard on the grass. "Y-You don't really want to go… Deep down you don't, right?" he asked, starting to shake.

"...Ah...I...no. I don't. B-But I need to."

"If you don't truly want to go, then don't. You don't have to go, I'm not kicking you out. Stay. Please."

Alfred nodded shakily. "I need to. I-I'm going." He started struggling slightly again.

Arthur tightened his grip. "What do I need to do to get you to stay?" he asked, determined.

Alfred shook his head, looking away. "I'm leaving. No matter what. Let me down."

Arthur sighed and stood up. "I'm truly sorry for doing this, Alfred." he said, walking quickly inside to his room, where he placed Alfred into the cage and closed the door. "I hope you can forgive me someday, but I can't let you leave. You might get hurt." he said, looking down.

Alfred turned, running over to the door. "No, no, no, NO! LET ME OUT- ENGLAND PLEASE!"

"If I do, you'll just leave." Arthur said quietly.

"ENGLAND! OPEN IT!" Alfred banged on the bars.

After a few minutes of silence, Arthur reached out shakily and unlatched the door, letting it swing open. "Please don't leave..." he whispered, tears welling up in his eyes again.

Alfred started to climb out. "I need to, England, I do..."

"YOU DON'T! I don't care about what you said to me earlier, I've heard it all before from my older brothers. I just want you to stay!" Arthur cried.

"AND IM YOUR LITTLE BROTHER AND YOU SHOULD BE SAYING SHIT LIKE THAT TO ME!" Alfred climbed out, and looked around for a way down.

Arthur shook his head. "I wouldn't say that about you because it's NOT TRUE! An older brother has to protect and encourage his younger brother, which I did a shit job with, but I think you turned out splendidly. You're everything I hoped you would be..."

Alfred shut his eyes, tearing up. He grabbed the side of the cabinet, and slowly started climbing down. "You hoped I'd be a jackass? And you didn't do a bad job, I made a bad job listening..."

Arthur plucked him from the cabinet side and held him in his lap. "You're not a jackass, stop putting yourself down!"

Alfred struggled in his grip, moving around. "I'M GONNA LEAVE! YOU CAN'T HOLD ME FOREVER!" he cried out, cheeks heating up.

Arthur brought him close to his face and glared at him through his tears. "Stop it. Stop it right now. You don't want to leave, not do you need to, so why are you forcing yourself to? And I don't plan on keeping you here forever, just until you get back to normal. Then you're welcome to walk out on me. But not before. Understand?" he asked forcibly. "Running away isn't heroic, so stay. You don't have to talk to me or anything, but stay in my house, where you'll be safe." His glare cracked by the end of his words, and in its place was left an expression of sadness.

Alfred was looking to his side the entire time with gritted teeth. "I don't needa be heroic. I don't wanna walk out on you, and I'll be fine. I will. L-Let me go.."

"You could at least look at me when you say that..." Arthur murmured. "But I'm not letting you go."

Alfred struggled again. "Well you will. Eventually. "

"I will let you go. When you're back to normal. Not before."

Alfred struggled more. "You. Can't. Hold me yourself all day. Let me go, it'll be faster."

"Why can't you understand?!" Arthur cried out in frustration. "If you go out there now, you could get hurt, or worse! You wouldn't be fine, you would barely be able to navigate the streets. I only want to keep you safe. Four days, Alfred. In four days you will be back to normal and you can go back to your normal life. Four bloody days..."

"I CAN'T STAY AND FUCK YOUR LIFE UP ANYMORE. LET GO OF ME, I'M GOING."

"You're not fucking up my life! Why can't you see that?"

"FUCK YOU! I AM! LET GO!" Alfred started struggling even harder now, feeling himself slip slowly out of his grip.

Arthur tightened his grip until Alfred couldn't move any more. "It's my life. I decide what fucks it up or no, and you are _not!_"

"LET. THE. FUCK. GO!"

Arthur gritted his teeth and shoved Alfred back into the cage. He closed it and backed away from it. "Four days. That's all. Please Alfred..."

Alfred fell back onto the cold ground of the cage. He shakily stood. "N-NO! NOW! Lemme out!"

Arthur backed up until his back hit the wall. "I can't. Not until you promise not to run away again."

Alfred gritted his teeth. "I...promise." he lied.

Arthur shook his head. "You have to actually mean it."

"I promise." Alfred repeated, trying to pass it off better.

"I still don't believe you..."

"I FUCKING PROMISE. LET ME OUT." Alfred growled.

Arthur shook his head again.

Alfred hit a small fist on one of the bars. "Let me out!"

"I can't, you'll just leave!"

Alfred started hitting at the bars, not denying it. "LET ME OUT ENGLAND!"

"I can't! I'll-I'll go get you some food." Arthur said, slipping out the door. He ran downstairs to the kitchen and leaned on the countertop, breathing heavily.

"ENGLAND!" Alfred called after him. When he heard no response he cursed, hitting the bars again, and sitting down. He brought his knees up to his chin and sat there, trying to figure out how to get out.

Taking a few steadying deep breaths, Arthur retrieved the plate of food, grabbed a bottle of water, and slowly walked back to the room. He paused in the doorway.

Alfred turned to look at him, then turned back. "Well. Now you believe I'm pathetic?"

"No." Arthur said firmly. "You're not. Now are you hungry?"

Alfred laughed. "The United States of Fucking America. My boss would kill to see this. And probs a lotta other people..." he muttered.

"No one will know about this. I want to let you out, but you'll just run away."

Alfred stayed silent, still looking at the ground.

Arthur approached the cage and placed a hand on the bars. "Please stay..." he said softly.

Alfred gently shook his head.

Arthur leaned his forehead against the bars and stared at Alfred with wide, pleading eyes. "Al...please..."

Alfred hugged his knees more, burying his head in them. "NO!"

Arthur's fingers tightened around the bars and he sighed, closing his eyes. "Why not? Tell me a real reason, not the bullshit you've been saying all this time."

"It wasn't bullshit!" Alfred yelled at him.

"Yes it was. I don't think that way at all."

"It wasn't!" Alfred pressed, still with his head in his knees.

"Yes it was!" He couldn't stand seeing Alfred like this.

Alfred shook his head. "Fuck you, it's not."

Arthur sighed. "There's nothing I can say or do to convince you otherwise, is there?" he asked quietly.

"Convince me?! It's true! All of it!"

"No it's not!" Arthur growled.

Alfred looked up. "Yes it fucking is, and don't you fucking deny it!" he growled back.

"There's nothing to deny because it's NOT TRUE!"

"SHUT UP! SHUT UP, IT IS!" Alfred stood up.

"But it's not!"

Alfred walked up to the side of the cage. "IT IS. SHUT THE FUCK UP, IT IS!"

Arthur watched him come closer. "It's not..." he whispered.

"IT IS!"

"It is not, and you have to stop telling yourself this! You're above it!"

"IT'S FUCKING TRUE! FUCK YOU!"

Arthur closed his eyes and pulled away from the cage. "It wasn't supposed to be like this..." he murmured, opening his eyes again.

"What wasn't!? THIS?! Yeah, you were supposed to be pulling revenge out on me, cuz I left you!"

"That notion died almost immediately! And that wasn't my reason! I just want you to be happy now, Alfred. To stop talking bullshit, and perhaps even enjoy your time here." Arthur shook his head. "But of course I had to mess it up by humming a damned lullaby." He lay his head down on the table on top of his arms.

Alfred froze. "What? No, no, that wasn't it, Ar-...Artie..."

"Of course it was! I always do something to start an argument, and then we hurt each other...I'm sorry..."

"Shut up! That's not true, I start it, cuz I just HAVE to go and comment on it."

Arthur picked himself up and looked at Alfred. "Please...I want you to stay. Will you?"

Alfred stared at him. "Few conditions."

"What are they?" Arthur asked eagerly, leaning forward with shining eyes.

"One. You don't start shit. And never say you did. Okay?"

Arthur nodded, though it pained him. "I won't."

"Okay...and...two...um...donuts! For breakfast!"

"I can go get some now, if you want." Arthur offered.

"Nonono, not done. If I ever get you mad, get it out. Don't be afraid you'll hurt me or something. You won't. Okay? Promise?"

Arthur's eyes widened a bit. "You- I-I..." He lowered his gaze. "Okay." he finally said.

"PROMISE!"

"I promise." Arthur said quietly. "I swear it."

Alfred nodded. "Okay. And um...whatelse...don't stop singing lullabies. Okay? And...and when I'm back to normal size, let me borrow your phone. Okay?"

"Why do you need my phone?"

"And what else...um...Oh! If I ever run again, stop me. Stop me, okay?"

"I would always stop you. But Alfred. _Why_ do you need my phone?"

Alfred shook his head. "Not important. You promised. Now open the door."

"Do you promise not to run away?" Arthur asked, his hand hovering over the latch.

Alfred nodded.

Arthur undid the latch and opened the door. He leaned back in his chair, watching him.

* * *

**A/N**: Ehh, a bit of a crappy ending point, but I didn't want this chapter to get too long. ^-^


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N**: This is the second to last chapter guys! Enjoy!

* * *

Alfred climbed out and looked at him. "Donuts."

"Do you want to come with me to get them?"

Alfred shook his head. "S'cold outside."

Arthur picked up the cage and carried it into his closet, where he set it in the farthest corner.

"Where do you want to go?" he asked as he walked back to the desk.

"Dunkin Donuts~!"

Arthur shook his head, a tiny smile coming onto his face. "I meant, where do you want me to set you down in here, since you don't want to go with me."

"Downstairs, kitchen."

Arthur nodded and placed his hand next to him, palm up.

Alfred climbed on, standing in the middle of his palm.

Arthur curled his fingers slightly to ensure he wouldn't fall off and carried him downstairs. He set him on the kitchen table and pulled on his coat. "I will be back soon. What kind do you want?"

Alfred waved his arms. "Munchkins! All of them!"

Arthur chuckled quietly. "Sure." He grabbed his keys and stepped out.

Alfred sat down on the table, and waited him to return.

It took Arthur a while to find a Dunkin Donuts, but he finally did. He bought a few of each kind of munchkins and walked home. Not bothering to take off his coat, he set the box on the table and placed one of each kind on a plate for Alfred. He took a seat on the end of the table and watched him.

Alfred immediately brightened up at the donuts, took one, and threw it at Arthur's face.

Arthur caught it and looked at him. "What was that for?"

"Cuz you did it wrong! Condition was breakfast, and you're giving it to me now!"

"You don't want any now?"

Alfred shook his head. "Not the point! You got the condition wrong! If you get the other ones wrong too, I will leave!"

Arthur stiffened. "Well, sorry for trying to be considerate." he said as he put the munchkins away.

Alfred looked at him. "No...that's not-" He shut up, sitting down. "Sorry, I...I though it w- whatever.." he mumbled.

Arthur studied him carefully. "You thought what? You can tell me, you know."

Alfred shook his head. "No...nothing...sorry..."

Arthur gently poked him. "What is it?"

"Nothing..."

Arthur groaned. "It's obviously something. So tell me."

"I didn't mean it like that...was supposed to be a joke...whatever.."

"It's fine. So do you want any now?"

"No..."

Arthur glanced at the time and nodded. "It's getting pretty late. do you want to go up to bed?"

Alfred rolled his eyes. "S'not late. You're just ooooold~!"

Arthur snorted. "I'm not that old. But I am exhausted."

"Uh huh. Course you are. Well, I'm not~!"

Arthur picked him up. "You can be not tired in my bedroom. Let's go." He held him very loosely as he went up.

Alfred hit his hands. "NONONONONO! I wanna do something!"

"What do you want to do?" Arthur asked, pausing on the stairs.

"Go down and do something fun."

Arthur turned around and went to the living room, setting Alfred down on the floor and sitting down next to him. "Alright. Do something fun now."

Alfred hit him. "I don't know what to DO!"

"Neither do I." Arthur shrugged.

Alfred climbed up his leg. "Tell me about your family."

Arthur's expression darkened. "I'd rather not."

"Please?" Alfred sat down on his knee.

"It's not pretty. We're pretty messed up." Arthur warned.

Alfred shrugged. "So?"

Arthur sighed. "Well, there's four of us in my immediate family. Me, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. Wales is the oldest, then Scotland, then Ireland, and finally me. Long story short, they all hate me, though some more than others." he said, hoping to end it quickly.

Alfred kept looking up at him. "Why do they hate you?"

"I'm the youngest, but the most powerful. Add a few invasions, wars, and centuries of merciless teasing and arguing to that mix and you have a pretty strong hate relationship."

Alfred smirked: "Fuck yeah for being young and strong!"

He raised his hand up for a high five. Arthur chuckled and very lightly tapped his hand with a fingertip.

Alfred fist pumped. "Mkay, what else?"

"What do you mean, what else?"

"Tell me mooore~!"

"About my elder brothers?"

Alfred nodded.

"Alright. Might as well start off with Scotland. First, a warning. Never, ever tell him that Nessie's not real. He will get extremely angry and things will not go well. He has a quick temper, but I'll admit he's a good drinking partner. He was always the one who used to make fun of me the most when we were younger, and our relationship is still complicated at best. He really hates me because I'm more powerful than he is." He leaned back against the side of the couch.

Alfred nodded again, crossing his legs, and listening intensively.

"Wales is the oldest, and also on the best terms with Scotland. The two go drinking often together. He used to tease me a lot as well, but it wasn't as vicious then, and he's the one who hates me the least. He's the one who taught me archery." He looked down to see if Alfred was bored yet.

"Archery? You can arch?"

Arthur laughed. "There's no such term as 'arch'. Archery is the art of shooting a bow and arrow. But yes, I can shoot pretty well."

"I knoooow, it was a joke, you're bad at this. Anyways, keep going."

"And then there's Ireland. He's still hostile, but no longer as violent as he once was. Now we tend to go drinking instead of fighting. I think he's most pissed off about the time when I tried to control him completely and keep him a part of the United Kingdom. Part of him still is, the northern part, but he doesn't like to talk about it so don't mention it unless you want to have a bunch of angry Leprechauns sicced on you." Arthur paused, thinking. "And that's the basics. We're a messed up family, but I _think_ we love each other deep down." he said with a smirk.

Alfred smiled. "Of course you do. Especially deep down!"

"We sure have a strange way of showing it...whenever we get together, we either end up fighting, drunk, or both. Usually both."

Alfred snickered. "You, drunk? With them? That must be a sight!"

"Oh, I've been told it is. It's a miracle some sort of war hasn't broken out yet."

Alfred snickered again. "Tell me next time, I'll come watch."

Arthur coughed. "That...err...might not be the best idea..."

Alfred laughed. "I'll be fine. M'strong, remember?"

Arthur reached out and ruffled his hair lightly. "Of course you'll be fine." he said, meaning it.

Alfred ducked a bit. "You know it!"

"Are you tired yet?"

Alfred shook his head. "Nope! Loser!" he laughed. "I'm totally ready for a game or something!"

"I know a game we could play."

Alfred looked up. "What?"

"It's called Let England Sleep, and its rules are fairly simple." Arthur replied, grinning.

Alfred groaned. "NOOOOO It sounds stuupiiddddd!"

Arthur raised an eyebrow. "Do you have any suggestions? Because if you don't, that's what we're playing."

Alfred shook his head. "Not fair! Um...how about hide and seek?"

"Didn't we already play that?"

Alfred pursed his lips. "Noooooooooooo~!"

Arthur smiled. "Yes we did. It's what led to the pirate...story." He pursed his lips. "But we can play again, I suppose."

Alfred nodded. "Yeah!"

Arthur moved him to the ground and gave him a slight push away. "You have one minute to hide. Go!" He closed his eyes and began counting.

Alfred immediately ran for the stairs and started climbing up. Arthur reached sixty and got up, quietly walking out to the hallway. He saw him near the top of the stairs, but turned around and headed to the kitchen, pretending he hadn't.

"Alfred?" he called out.

Alfred sighed, knowing the other had seen him. He got to the top, finally, and decided he had to find the best hiding spot ever. A minute later he was hidden.

Arthur wandered around downstairs before making his way to the upper level. He immediately went to the bedroom and peered under the bed.

"Alfred?"

He checked the whole floor before finally sitting down on the bed, thinking of places he could have missed. His eyes lighted on the closet door, which was slightly open. He got up and slowly padded inside. After a moment of searching, he stopped in shock. Alfred was in the cage. Asleep. He sighed and gently lifted him out, careful not to wake him up. He settled the tiny nation onto one of the pillows on the bed before getting into it himself and pulling Alfred close to him. He lay on his side, hand draped over his small body, and fell asleep.

In the morning Alfred woke up, yawning. He was surprised to find himself in a bed, and he turned to Arthur. "Iggy?" he asked sleepily.

Arthur woke up then. He slowly opened his eyes and looked down at him. "Yeah?"

"Did you find me?"

Arthur chuckled. "No. You magically floated up here by yourself."

Alfred pouted at him. "Shaddup! How long did it take you?"

"You were in the last place I looked, so pretty long."

"Knew it!" Alfred made a small fist pump.

"It was certainly an…unexpected spot."

"Yeah, I knew you wouldn't look there."

Arthur nodded, and then smiled. "I suppose it's time for those munchkins now…"

Alfred laughed. "Guess sooooo~!"

Arthur sat up and stretched, then picked him up and carried him to the table. He brought out the box of munchkins, placed one of each on a plate again, and set the plate before him.

Alfred immediately tried one of each. He managed to eat half of them all before he collapsed. "Uwah…"

Arthur chuckled. "You really should slow down. It's not like they're going anywhere."

Alfred glared at him. "I'm not rushing! They're just good!"

"If they're good, it's all the more reason to eat slowly, to savour them."

"Orrrrr, just eat them ALL~!"

"That is a guaranteed way to get sick."

"Nawwwww, done it beforeeeeee~!"

Arthur rolled his eyes. "Of course you have." he said, smiling a bit.

Alfred nodded fervently. "Are you doubting me?" he asked, glaring suspiciously up at him.

"Of course not. You of all people could do it, too." Arthur muttered, perfectly serious.

Alfred smirked. "Course I can~!"

Arthur put the rest of the munchkins away. "Let's not test that right now."

Alfred groaned. "I wouldn't be able to…"

Arthur gently poked his stomach. "I know you wouldn't. You would barely be able to finish one at this point."

"Stooooooppppp!" Alfred protested, smacking at his finger.

Arthur smirked and poked him again, pressing down ever so slightly. "Why? Do you feel sick?"

Alfred grunted, pushing at the finger. "S-Stop it Artie!"

Arthur let Alfred push his finger away and then rested it on his small stomach. "_Do_ you feel sick?" he asked again, more concerned this time.

"Naw." Alfred shook his head.

Arthur nodded and picked him up, heading to the living room. He sat down on the couch and placed Alfred on his lap. He gave him the remote and they watched TV and movies for the next couple of hours. Arthur always let him choose, and while he gritted his teeth at some of his choices, he didn't say anything and forced himself to watch without complaint.

"Artie, I'm hungry…" Alfred said after the third movie finished, poking Arthur in the stomach.

Arthur scooped him up again and walked into the kitchen. "Munchkins again?" he asked, setting him down on the table.

"Hell yeah!" Alfred yelled, jumping up and down a few times.

Chuckling, Arthur got out the rest of the munchkins and put them all on a plate. He ate some as well. Alfred groaned again after his third one, and he collapsed next to the plate.

"Uwah! M'full again…"

Arthur rolled his eyes and looked over the plate. There were still five left, but he didn't want anymore, and it didn't seem like Alfred would eat anymore any time soon. So he scooped them up, crumbled them, and tossed them out the window for the birds.

"Hey! What did you do that for?!" Alfred asked, staggering up.

"They were starting to dry out. They wouldn't have been any good if I'd put them away to take out later. This way, the birds can enjoy them while they are still good."

"Waste of good munchkins…" Alfred muttered under his breath, but he sat down again by the now-empty plate.

Arthur took his seat as well and watched him for a moment. "You know, I'm surprised no one has noticed your absence yet." he said eventually.

Alfred shrugged and fell silent, thinking about what he'd said. Did…Did no one care?

"Hey, I'm sure they're just all to preoccupied with matters in their own countries." Arthur said gently, noticing his silence.

Alfred shrugged again and turned his back to him. "Yeah…course…"

Arthur bit his lip, cursing at himself. He reached out and turned him back around. "Sorry. I'm sure they'll notice soon. I mean, it's hard not to notice you."

"Cuz I'm loud? And annoying?"

"No. Because you stand out. You're not all that annoying, you know."

"Uh huh…" Alfred rolled onto his stomach and yawned, muttering something.

Arthur leaned closer to him. "What was that? I didn't quite catch it."

"Nothin'."

Arthur slid him closer. "No, tell me. You said something, and I would like to know what it was. Muttering is a bad habit, you know."

Alfred glanced up with a glare, and scooted back to where he was earlier. "Nothin'."

Arthur placed a hand behind him and pushed him forward again, this time making sure he stayed in place. "Tell me."

Alfred started to squirm and got up. "No! It's not important- stop it!"

Arthur sighed, getting annoyed, and was about to say something when there was a knock at the door. He scooped up Alfred and set him down on the ground next to the couch.

"Get underneath there and stay there until I say you can come out, okay? I don't want anyone discovering you like this."

Alfred's eyes went wide and he nodded violently as he climbed under the couch, hiding.

Arthur waited until he was out of sight and then stood up, heading to the door. His bad mood was further soured when he saw who it was.

"Bonjour, Angle-"

"What do you want?" Arthur snapped, cutting Francis off.

"I merely came with my concerns. Did you know l'Amerique has been missing these past few days?"

Arthur feigned ignorance. "Oh, really? And how would you know that?"

"I was visiting Canada, and I noticed it was oddly quiet, so I stepped down south and found America's house empty. I was merely wondering if you had something to do with it." Francis replied, smiling suggestively.

"What the bloody hell would I have to do with it? The great big idiot's probably managed to get himself lost in his own country again."

"Non, I do not think this is the case." Francis stepped forward, only to be blocked by Arthur. "Have you finally realized your emotions? Did you kidnap him and are you holding him in your basement? Or bedroom?"

Arthur raised an eyebrow. "Of course I'm not, you perverted frog! I wouldn't do that! And besides, I have standards, despite what you seem to think!" he snapped loudly.

Francis smirked. "Oh, so you are saying America is below your standards?"

"You certainly are!"

"You are not denying it, Angleterre!" Francis said, practically glowing with smugness.

"My standards are none of your concern. Get out of here." Arthur said, glaring at the other nation and crossing his arms.

"Ahh, so he is below them..."

"Get out!" Arthur pushed him forcefully back and slammed the door in his face. He leaned against it for a moment, breathing heavily. "Stupid, perverted, French frogs..." he muttered to himself before starting down the hall. "Alfred?" he called out. "You can come out now."

Alfred didn't move from his spot. He sat there quietly and repeated their conversation in his head.

When nothing moved, Arthur got down to his knees and peered under the couch. "Alfred? Are you there? He's gone now, it's safe."

"…Yeah, I'm here." Alfred muttered, still not moving.

"You can come out, you know."

"I'm such an idiot I'd get lost in my own country?"

Arthur winced, starting to think something was wrong. "That's not true, but it's something the frog would believe as an excuse to your absence."

"Why the hell would he believe it? Because that's what you think?"

"No! I thought we already went through this, I don't think you're an idiot! I had to say something to get him to leave."

"…I'm below your standards?" Alfred said it with his stomach turning over.

Arthur gritted his teeth. "Once again, I had to get him to leave."

"You didn't deny it." Alfred's voice was barely a whisper.

"Why do you even care about my standards anyways?!" Arthur cried, getting frustrated again.

"So it's true?!" Alfred stood up, his fists clenching as he trembled.

"It's not true, but why do you even care?!"

"Because it's insulting- and it's true if you didn't deny it!"

"It's none of his business! And would you rather he found you like this?"

"So?! You didn't deny it!" Alfred ignored the last sentence.

"Come out, Alfred." Arthur said softly, keeping his voice low and calm. "I can barely see you."

"FUCK YOU!"

"Alfred!" Arthur shouted, losing his calm attitude. "You're not, okay? You're not below them, so just get out here!"

"Fuck you! You're just saying that because it's me!"

"No I'm not! Whatever I said, I said it so that France would leave and wouldn't find you! Just come out!"

"That's true! If it's not true, why were you so embarrassed to tell him, huh?" Alfred stepped back until he hit the wall. "NO! I don't need to do SHIT you say!"

"Wouldn't YOU be embarrassed discussing your love life with that pervert?! Get out here!" Arthur lunged forward, trying to reach Alfred's small figure.. He growled in frustration when his arm was too short, and scowling, he rose. He took hold of the couch and started pulling it away from the wall to make room for him to reach him. "Get out here, Alfred!" he snapped.

"Love life?! F-Fuck you!" Alfred moved away from the hand, and yelped when the couch started moving around him. "NO! I'm not doing SHIT YOU SAY!"

"What the hell did you think he was talking about?! Our business transactions?" Arthur pushed the couch again even more. "Get out here before I'm forced to take you out." he growled, his eyes slitted in anger.

"Before I'm forced- fuck you! Don't fucking touch me!"

Arthur finally managed to squeeze through behind the couch. "Or you'll do what?" he asked, reaching out for him.

Alfred cursed under his breath, for he was still sitting down as he scooted away from him. Fuck, he had nothing to say. What could he do, bite him?

Arthur grabbed him and brought him close to his face. "Or you'll do what, little hero?" he asked, sarcasm floating around the last two words.

Alfred clenched his teeth, struggling in his grip. "F-Fuck y-you, let go of me!"

Arthur sighed and sat down on the floor, still behind the couch. He set Alfred down on his knee, but fenced him in with his fingers. He took a moment to calm down and push his anger down before speaking. "I really didn't mean anything I said." he said eventually, his voice quiet.

"Fuck. You." Alfred backed up until he hit his fingers, and then he turned around and tried to rip them apart. "Let me fucking out!"

Arthur kept his fingers forcefully in place. "I already said it wasn't true, what more do you want from me?!"

"I want you to stop fucking lying- let me out!" Alfred yelled the last three words, making them more of an order.

"I'm not lying!" Arthur brought his hands closer together, lessening the space Alfred had.

Alfred cursed under his breath, trying to push them apart with more force. "Stop it I said!"

"I'm not lying." Arthur repeated. "A-Are you going to try to leave again?"

Alfred ignored him. "I said fucking let me out!" he snapped, his tone similar to the one Arthur had had earlier. "Now!"

"I'll let you out…if you promise you won't try to leave." Arthur said quietly.

"I SAID NOW!"

"Say you won't leave, then! And mean it!"

"NOW, FUCKING LISTEN TO ME!"

Arthur gritted his teeth. "Don't take that tone with me!" he snapped, his anger returning despite his best efforts. He tightened his hold on him even more.

"OW- FUCK YOU! I'LL USE WHATEVER GODDAMN TONE I WANT!"

Arthur abruptly let him go and knocked him forcefully off his knee, sending him flying. He stood up. "You know what? Fine. I don't care if you die, or if France or some other country finds you and takes advantage of your current situation." His heart wrenched as he said this, but he forced his voice to stay cold and hard, and he glared down at him contemptuously before stepping over him and leaving the room.

* * *

**A/N**: ...I blame France for this round of arguing.

Also, in case you're wondering why I didn't include Sealand in the bit about Arthur's brothers, it's because Arthur refuses to recognize him as a country, right? So I saw no real point in it. Also, the UK bros' personalities were taken from the Hetalia Archives.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N**: Alright guys, you get a really long chapter to finish it up. Enjoy~!

* * *

Alfred yelled as he hit the ground and stared up at him, eyes wide. "Wh-Wha-" He lowered his head, covering it with his arms as he was stepped over, thinking for a minute Arthur was going to step on him. The second he left, Alfred stared after him as tears came to his eyes. He felt numb as he moved back until he hit the wall again, his face in the knees he was hugging as he let tears slide down his cheeks, trying his hardest not to sob loudly so the other wouldn't hear him.

_I don't care if you die._

_Or if someone takes advantage of your current situation._

**_I don't care._**

He hugged himself even tighter as he started to sob louder. No one fucking cared, ever, and he was wrong to ever think Arthur felt differently.

Arthur slid down the wall right outside the living room and buried his face in his arms. _'Why the bloody hell did you have to go and say that, you idiot?'_ he asked himself viciously. _'And then you wonder why he wants to leave you? Why everyone wants to leave you?' _"NO! It's not true! I didn't mean it, I swear!" he suddenly screamed out, gripping his arms tightly as he tried to stop his sobs which slipped out anyway.

"TH-THEN WHY'D YOU FUCKING SAY IT?!" Alfred yelled.

Arthur's heart twisted again, but he didn't reply. It took all he had not to go rushing back to Alfred's side. "I-I didn't mean it…" he whispered.

Alfred heard him and sniffed, wiping his nose with the back of his hand. "You always mean it, you just regret it afterwards." His right arm stung, and it started to throb as he shakily stood and moved under the couch again. He had nowhere else to go, especially not for comfort, and he couldn't get out now, not with his throbbing arm. He stayed there, closing his eyes as he heard it start to rain again outside.

A few minutes later, Arthur's resolve broke and he dragged himself back into the room, somehow lacking the strength to actually get up. He panicked for a moment when he didn't see Alfred, but he eventually found his figure under the couch again.

"I don't…" he said quietly. "I just say random hurtful things when I'm angry. Alfred…I'm sorry…" He moved closer to the couch, hesitantly reaching out. "I-I didn't hurt you, did I?"

Alfred didn't answer. He kept his back to him as he gulped, keeping silent.

Arthur started sobbing harder. "I did, didn't I? God, I'm so sorry…" His arm was still too short to reach him, but maybe it was just for the best.

Alfred shook his head. "D-Don't cry, please…I'm fine…" His arm and entire right side seemed to throb in protest.

Arthur strained himself despite his mind telling him not to touch him, because he would probably only end up hurting Alfred more. His fingertips barely brushed his back. "You're not fine, you're hurt. And it's m-my fault…" Tears continued to spill down his cheeks, more now.

Alfred winced at the touch, not expecting it. He scooted a bit closer to him. "I'm fine, Arthur…"

"Y-You're not…" Arthur whispered, and retracted his hand. "I'm sorry…" he said again, leaning his head dejectedly against the floor. In that moment, there was nothing he regretted more than his actions from a few minutes ago.

"Stop it, I'm fine." Alfred scooted closer again, but stopped when Arthur pulled back. He turned around again.

Arthur's throat felt raw, and it was hard to get the words out. "You're not…" He brought his arms in front of him and sobbed into them. "God, I'm really pathetic now…" he managed to choke out. "Look at me. I've just hurt the person most- the person that I-" He couldn't go on.

"S-Stop, don't cry, you aren't pathetic, Arthur." Alfred didn't hear the last part, nor the fact that he didn't finish.

Arthur didn't listen to him, merely curling up closer to himself.

"Arthur….Artie, please…"

Arthur shook his head. "I-I…Alfred…" He buried his head farther into his arms, trying to wipe away his tears on his shirt sleeve.

"Artie…..m'cold…" Alfred muttered as he let his own tears keep running down his cheeks.

Arthur hesitated for a moment before slowly reaching out and wrapping his fingers around Alfred's torso as gently as he possibly could. He pulled him closer to himself, lightly pressing him against his chest. "I-Is that better?" he asked, still sniffling a bit. Luckily, his tears seemed to have stopped for now.

Alfred nodded gently. He then stayed quiet before looking up at him. "I…it hurts…" he said softly. "And I'm really sorry if you don't care, b-but I couldn't help but say it…"

"I do care. Of course I care about you…" Arthur looked down at him with soft eyes. "Where does it hurt?"

Alfred gulped as he tried to raise his right arm, but with a yelp it fell again. "My right side…"

Arthur groaned. "I'm sorry, Alfred. So, so sorry…" He stood carefully, keeping Alfred against his chest in a manner that he wouldn't be moved around too much. He took him to the kitchen table and set him down gently. "Can you take off your shirt for me?"

Alfred nodded and tried to pull I off with his left hand, it not exactly working out for him.

Arthur watched him for a moment before reaching out, stopping his hand right before he actually touched him. "Do…Do you need help?"

Alfred nodded again, feeling a bit awkward.

Arthur carefully grasped the edge of the shirt between his thumb and forefinger and slowly pulled it off. He flinched when he saw the redness spreading across his right side and his heart sank with the knowledge that he had caused it. "Where exactly does it hurt?" he asked softly.

Alfred looked down. "…Everywhere…"

Arthur trembled a bit and he took a shaky breath. He felt fresh teats starting to come and struggled to keep his sobs down. "A-Alfred, I…" He couldn't continue again.

Alfred shook his head quickly. "Stop it, stop it please! It's okay, it's nothing bad, please!"

"It's nothing bad?! Alfred, I could have killed you!" Arthur moaned, dropping his head to the table.

Alfred forced a smile. "Not true! You can't kill a nation- or a hero!"

Arthur took another deep breath and stood, going to the freezer. Nothing seemed to be broken in Alfred's side, so he took out an ice cube, which he wrapped in a paper towel and set down next to him. "Don't lie…" he said quietly. "Here, lean against this."

Alfred looked down at it and sat down. He slowly leaned against it, wincing at the pain that came with the cold.

"I'm sorry it hurts…" Arthur slumped down against the table, staring at the little whorls in the wood.

Alfred shook his head again. "I-It's just cold…" he lied as he stared at the ice.

"Don't lie, damnit!" Arthur snapped, and then sighed.

Alfred jumped at the voice, whimpering softly and turning away again.

Arthur took a shuddering breath, cursing himself again. "I'm sorry Alfred. I didn't mean to snap."

"It's fine." Alfred said softly, still not daring to make eye contact.

"Are you afraid of me?" Arthur asked, his eyes saddening.

"No. Hero s'not afraid of anything."

Arthur sighed again and looked away, not saying anything. He knew Alfred was, and he honestly didn't blame him.

"What? Ya doubt it?"

"It's hard not to, the way you're acting, but it's fine, I understand why you would be…"

"I'm not! I'm not acting like anything, this hurts and it's cold and I just wanna be back to normal so I can hug you and go to sleep."

Arthur stared at him. "Why would you want to hug me? Especially after that?"

"Nothing happened." Alfred shrugged. "People say it to me all the time…I was just surprised….I didn't….I didn't expect you to say it so soon too.."

"Say what?"

"That you didn't care if I die."

Arthur froze. He stayed like that for a moment before suddenly scooping him up and bringing him up to his chest into an awkward hug, extremely careful of his right side. "Of course I care if you die. I don't think I could stand that." He moved Alfred close to his face and stared deep into his eyes. "And don't you ever dare think otherwise, no matter what I say."

Alfred winced at the touch, but looked away. "…Okay…"

Arthur's gaze lost it's intensity and he looked down, knowing Alfred still didn't believe him. "You said you wanted to sleep?" he asked quietly.

Alfred seemed to lay against his palm more. "Y-Yeah…"

Arthur nodded silently and went up to his room, where he placed Alfred on his bed. He had just pulled the covers over his small body when there was an extremely bright flash of lightning followed by a very loud clap of thunder. Arthur winced at the noise as he moved away from the bed.

Alfred flinched, yelping as he hid farther in the blanket. "Wh-What the f-fuck was that?!"

"Just some thunder. There's a storm outside."

Alfred started trembling under the covers. "J-JUST?!"

Arthur had intended to go downstairs to give him some privacy, but now he hesitated. "Do you want me to stay with you?"

Alfred violently nodded his head. "Yes! P-Please!"

Arthur slid into the bed as another flash lit up the room. He lay in the bed next to Alfred, but didn't touch him.

Alfred jumped, whimpering as he curled up. "Wh-Why does it haveta rain here every day?!"

"It doesn't rain every day…" Arthur said as he placed a hand lightly over Alfred's shaking form.

Alfred winced again, leaning into his touch.

Thunder boomed loudly again as Arthur began singing. His voice was soft and melodious, but it somehow managed to drown out the sounds of the storm outside. He sang a lullaby he had come across when he was looking something up on his computer. He had liked it instantly and wished it had been around when Alfred was younger, so he'd have a chance to sing it to the boy. He's been slightly disappointed that he'd never get that chance. But now, it seemed, he did.

Arthur finished the lullaby after a few minutes and stared up at the ceiling silently.

Alfred shifted a bit in his spot. "That was nice, Artie..." he said softly, after a while of silence.

"Thank you." Arthur smiled a bit. Another clap of thunder sounded loudly outside the window, and he pulled Alfred a little closer to him. "Are you afraid?" he asked quietly.

Alfred nodded violently. "F-fuck yeah I am." he muttered, scooting closer until he was up against the other's neck.

"Don't be. The thunder can't hurt you, and I'm here." Arthur said as he began stroking his back again.

He stayed silent for a while, enjoying the touch. "England?" he asked finally.

"Yes? What is it?"

"Thank you...for everything..."

Arthur smiled sadly. "For everything? For turning you small? For making you go through all of this?" He shook his head lightly. "But if you're talking about now, then you're welcome. I'll always be here for you if you need it."

Alfred turned. "Yeah. All'a it."

Arthur stayed silent for a while. "You're welcome again...You should try to go to sleep now."

"I love you, bro." Alfred said, smiling.

"I love you too, Alfred. No matter what." He kissed his fingertip and brought it to Alfred's forehead again. "Good night, little brother."

Alfred nuzzled closer to him. "Night..." A few moments later, he was asleep.

Arthur waited for a while, and then carefully moved Alfred to the pillow next to him. He rolled over to he was on his side and lightly touched his index finger to Alfred's right side, murmuring an incantation. His finger lit up with a soft green glow, and the redness on the tiny nation's side started to fade. Arthur smiled, thinking for once one of his spells would work, when the spell backfired and zapped him. He pulled his hand away immediately, but luckily Alfred was unhurt. Well, not anymore hurt than he'd been before. His right side wasn't as red anymore from the healing energy that had gone into it. Arthur, however, had a small cut on the pad of his finger that started bleeding.

"Damnit, why can't I even do this right?" he muttered to himself as he sucked on his finger until the bleeding stopped. He then shifted Alfred back so he was in his previous position. "I can't even fix the damage I did... But then again, when have I ever been able to?" He sighed. "I really didn't mean it, the whole thing about the standards. You're not below mine. In fact, I'm probably far below yours, if anything. Not that it even matters anyways." He turned onto his back. "You know what, Alfred? In that drunken stupor I was in after the Revolutionary War," It pained him even to say the word, but he had to get it out while Alfred was asleep. "It occurred to me that you never had been mine, and that you never would be. And that I was a fool to try and think otherwise. So what I'm trying to say is, I'm sorry, Alfred. So sorry for everything. And, I love you, little brother." With that off his chest, he closed his eyes.

"I was yours, I mean, I was your little bro, right?" Alfred said quietly, half hoping the other wouldn't hear him.

Arthur's eyes shot open. "Y-You were awake?" he asked hoarsely, his body stiffening.

"...No...this is your conscience?"

Arthur started shaking. "You weren't supposed to hear that, you were supposed to be asleep..." he whispered. "Forget you heard it." He removed his hand from over Alfred and brought it closer to himself as he half-curled up into a ball.

"Wh-What are you doing?!" Alfred immediately got scared and turned to him. "What happened?"

"You weren't supposed to hear that..." Arthur repeated quietly. It was quite a useless statement, but he took comfort from it. "J-Just go to sleep and forget everything."

"Arthur? I-I'm sorry...I didn't mean...sorry..." Alfred turned back around. "Okay..." he added softly.

Arthur was torn. A small part of him had subconsciously wanted for Alfred to hear it, but another, bigger part, was horrified that he had. After a moment of internal struggling, he uncurled and rolled onto his side, so he was facing him. He laid a hand over him again. "I-Is this alright?"

Alfred flinched, not expecting the touch, before squirming to turn to him. "What?"

"Is it alright...that I'm holding you?" Another flash of lightning came from outside, but the thunder that followed it was a bit quieter than the booms before it.

Alfred immediately nodded. "Of fucking course...brother..."

Arthur smiled in the darkness and pulled him closer to himself before closing his eyes. "Good night then...Again..."

"Night." This time, Alfred really fell asleep.

Arthur drifted off soon after that, his finger lightly tightening on Alfred's body in the process.

He woke up the next morning in the same position as he had fallen asleep. He carefully got up out of bed, not to disturb Alfred, and went downstairs to make some tea. He glanced out the window on his way to find it was still raining.

When Alfred woke to find him gone, he groaned and looked around. After a few more minutes of lying around, he pursed his lips, staring at the mattress. A few seconds later, he rolled off the pillow and onto the mattress.

Arthur made his usual tea, and attempted to make coffee for Alfred. There was a strange smell coming from the coffee pot, but he dismissed it as the normal scent of coffee and took a small cupful of it up to Alfred. When he was that the tiny nation wasn't on the pillow, he got slightly worried.

"Alfred, where are you?" he asked, searching the floor.

"On the mattress!" Alfred peeked out from behind the covers. "Why?"

Arthur sighed in relief and placed the tea and coffee down before sitting lightly on the edge of the mattress. "I thought you'd left...or were wandering around somewhere. I don't want to step on you by accident."

"...I hope ya don't." Alfred jumped up and down behind the mountains of sheets. "Wanna help me up?"

"Of course." Arthur reached over and lay his hand next to him, palm up. "I made some coffee for you as well."

Alfred climbed on. "Legit?"

"Yes, it's right here." Arthur brought the hand over to the night table and gently pushed him off onto the surface of it, next to the coffee. "Is it any good?

Alfred looked at it. "Dunno, looks like coffee."

"Try it." Arthur urged, leaning forward a bit.

Alfred drank some, stepping back after a moment. "S'good."

Arthur smiled a bit. "Oh, good. I was worried I'd burnt it."

"You probably would have!" Alfred snickered.

The smile was gone immediately. "Well I didn't." Arthur picked up his tea and sipped at it.

Alfred rolled his eyes. "It's good, Artie. Thanks."

"You're welcome. How- How does your side feel?"

Alfred glanced at it. "...It burns now."

"I see...I'm sorry, Alfred." Arthur clenched his hands and sighed, frustrated and disappointed that he hadn't been able to heal it after all. He absently rubbed his cut finger and took a large gulp of the tea.

Alfred shook his head with a soft smile. "It's totally fine, you didn't mean it~!"

"It's not fine." Arthur sighed again. "Listen, do you know what you want to do today? It's your last day this size." He had an idea, but if Alfred wanted to do anything specific, they'd do that.

Alfred blinked in surprise. "...Really?"

Arthur smiled a bit. "Yes. Tomorrow, around noon, you should turn back. The spell will also heal you completely during your transformation."

Alfred blinked again before looking down and fumbling with the makeshift sweater. "Do I get this?"

Arthur shrugged. "I'm not sure. It might just magically disappear off you and stay like it is now. But you can keep it anyway, if you want."

"...Yeah. I like it a lot." Alfred smiled at the sweater before looking up at Arthur. "I dunno. What do ya wanna do?"

"Well...I could read to you? It might keep us from...disagreeing today." he suggested. "I'll read anything you want, even a comic book."

"Reading? Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!" Alfred ran off the edge of the night table and landed on the pillow, like a hero. "Do ya even have comic books?"

Arthur frowned for a moment. "You might have left one or two lying around over the years...I think they're downstairs. And besides, you wouldn't even be the one reading!"

Alfred smiled. "Alright! But I get to sit on your shoulder!"

"That might not be the best idea...but we can try it, I suppose." He picked Alfred up and gently set him on his shoulder.

Alfred immediately grabbed his shirt, holding on tightly as he looked around. "Whoaaaa! No, it's fucking awesome!"

Arthur chuckled lightly as he stood and walked downstairs, trying to keep his pace steady so Alfred wouldn't fall off. After a few minutes of searching, he pulled out a fairly old Avengers comic. "Will this do?"

Alfred's eyes widened. "YES! OMG what edition is it?!" He squinted to see.

Arthur held up the book closer to him so he could see. "It looks older, so it might be more valuable." He himself had really no interest in knowing what edition it was or how rare or anything like that.

"Holy shit..." Alfred breathed, staring at the book with wide eyes. "You have my comics from the 60s! About how Cap beat the commies!"

Arthur rolled his eyes at his enthusiasm. "Do you want it back? It's just lying around here, collecting dust."

"Hell yeah I do! Last time I showed commie this, he like, fumed!"

"Keep taunting Russia, and he might sic Belarus on you." Arthur warned, walking over to the couch and settling down. "Or so something else, something worse than I could ever do."

Alfred rolled his eyes at him, smirking a bit. "Psh, I could take 'em easy." He then looked up at Arthur, smirking a bit. "What's that mean?"

"One time, I was trying to summon the Devil, and Russia appeared instead."

Alfred blinked. "Hoooly shit! I knew he was evil- wait. Why the fuck were you calling the Devil?!"

Arthur focused back on the comic book. "I might have wanted...to send him after you..."

"What?! The Devil- why man?!"

Arthur shrugged very lightly. "Can't remember now. Shall we start this?" He tapped the book.

Alfred pulled on a piece of his hair. "No! Why'd you want to call the Devil on me?!"

"I really can't remember, Alfred." Arthur said, wincing a bit.

Alfred pulled harder. "I coulda gotten hurt!"

Arthur carefully reached up and moved the tiny American away from his hair. "Then you're lucky Russia showed up and I sent him back. Besides, you would have been fine."

"The fuckin' Devil Artie!" Alfred moved right back with a glare and pulled on his hair again.

"Alfred, I don't bloody remember!" Arthur snapped, and then stopped himself. He took Alfred off his shoulder and placed him on the coffee table before sighing and placing his head in his hands for a moment. "I don't remember." he repeated, quieter this time. "Please, just let it go. It didn't happen. I really don't want to argue with you today."

Alfred glared up at him for a few moments, before sighing. "...Fine."

"Thank you." Arthur offered his palm for a moment, and when Alfred climbed on after a brief period of hesitation, he raised him to his shoulder and dropped him off there. "May I start now?"

Alfred shook his head. "I don't wanna be up here."

"Where do you want to go, then?"

"I wanna sit or lay or something." Alfred replied, looking around.

Arthur placed him on a couch pillow next to him. "There."

"Now I can't see, Artie!" Alfred protested, smiling up at him.

Arthur moved him to his lap. "And now?" he asked, propping the comic book up right in front of him.

Alfred blinked. "Ugh, now I can't see it! Lay down! I can just stay on your stomach~!"

Arthur complied, lying down on the couch and moving Alfred to his stomach. "May I begin now?"

"Yeah!" Alfred nodded with a smirk as he plopped down comfortably.

"Somehow, I don't remember you being this picky when you were younger."

Alfred snickered. "Yeah, well, I wanna see Cap."

"Mhm."

Arthur opened the book and began reading. At first, he used his normal voice on all the characters, but after a while he got into it and began experimenting with voices. Pretty soon, each character had their own voice and accent. He found himself relaxing, and the storyline actually drew him in, so he started reading with even more enthusiasm.

Alfred smiled and would snicker at every accent, especially the Russian. "OMG you still say it with a slight British accent!"

"Well, I am British...I can't get rid of my accent completely." But when Arthur resumed, he focused a bit more on the Russian accent to try and remove his own from it completely.

Alfred rolled his eyes before listening again, smiling broader at every word and accent. When Arthur finished, he bounced in his spot. "More!"

"I don't have any more comics." Arthur said, placing the book aside.

Alfred groaned. "...What books?"

"Are you up to Shakespeare?" Arthur asked, smiling slightly.

Alfred groaned even louder, lying back dramatically. "Nooooooooooooo, not him!"

"Oh, come on! He's not that bad! I'll explain it as I go along, if you want."

"But it's boring! Like, really boring!"

"It's not boring if you understand it. I'll read you Macbeth, that story has plenty of action in it."

Alfred rolled over onto his stomach. "Is there a hero?"

Arthur thought for a moment. "Yes, there is."

"Okay!" Alfred perked up a little bit.

"Wait here then." Arthur carefully removed him from his waist and got up to fetch his book of Shakespeare's works. He came back with a thick and heavy book, almost three and a half inches thick, containing all of Shakespeare's plays. He lay back down and maneuvered both Alfred and the book back into position.

Alfred blinked at it. "OMG it's gigantic! I don't want it anymore!"

Arthur chuckled. "This edition has all of his works. I'll only be reading a few pages to you." He opened to the appropriate page and smoothed it over.

"How many? Is it more than..." Alfred glanced at his comic book. "Twenty?"

Arthur quickly flipped through the pages, counting them off in his head. "This edition is...twenty-two pages long. Will you last?"

"Twenty-TWO?! Yeah, sure...fine."

Arthur laughed quietly again and began reading. He used a Scottish accent, since the play took place in Scotland. He stopped every few lines to explain to Alfred exactly what had happened: the witches, Macbeth's meeting with them, all the murders and insanity and battles. He paid extra close attention to Macduff since he was the hero, and read his lines with more vigour and a heavier accent.

When he was done, Alfred turned to him. "Did Macduff die?!"

"No, he became a hero. He was the one who killed Macbeth, remember?"

"...I thought Macbeth was the hero- wasn't there a McDonald's there?"

"Macbeth was the villain. He turned evil and murdered a while bunch of people, remember? And there was no McDonald's. There was a Donalbain, I'm pretty sure that's the closest one."

"I thought... And the lady dude thing, was she a witch?"

"The 'lady dude thing'?" Arthur asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I dunno, she was cray, saying that she didn't want boobs but then wanted 'em and then she didn't want to be a guy and then she did." Alfred looked up at him. "Was she PMSing? Or planning to go transgender? I didn't know you guys knew about that back then."

"Oh, Lady Macbeth? It's not that she didn't want breasts... It was an analogy. She wanted to have the strength of a man so that she could eliminate the guards so Macbeth could kill Duncan. She didn't actually want to change gender. But we didn't really know that kind of stuff then, unless you count magic."

"...So. She wanted. The boobs?"

"Yes. She wanted the breasts. She also wanted to be filled with poison instead of milk..."

"...Artie what the fuck did she want the boobs or not?!"

"How many times do I have to tell you that she did?!"

"Kay cool, I get it now."

"Finally..." Arthur muttered. He stretched and rubbed his throat. It hurt a bit from all that talking and accents. He hadn't talked for so long at once in a long time. He glanced at the clock to find it about 6 pm. "It's pretty late. Are you hungry?"

Alfred yawned a bit. "...Yeah, I am."

Arthur placed the book on the table and took him to the kitchen, where he got out some water and crackers for him again. "Sorry, but I don't feel like cooking." He then went over and put the kettle on for tea, in the meantime eating some honey to soothe his throat. It helped a bit.

Alfred crossed his arms. "This is a prisoner's meal!"

"Do you _want_ me to cook?" Arthur asked as the water boiled. He quickly made two cups of tea and set one before Alfred.

Alfred pursed his lips. "...Yeah...sure..."

Arthur grinned, the smile slightly sinister. "Right then. One batch of scones coming up." He gathered all the necessary ingredients and mixed them together.

Alfred cursed himself for agreeing, and sat down on the table, waiting. "...Is it gonna take long, though?"

"It shouldn't." Arthur slid the prepared sheet with the lumps of mixture into the oven. "A few minutes."

"Mkay. Do you have soda?"

"No. Horrendous stuff, I don't drink it. You have tea in front of you."

"I want soda!"

"Fine. I'll be back soon. If it starts burning, well...good luck." Arthur said cheerfully, grabbing a coat and walking out the door.

"Wait- burning-! ARTIE WHAT THE HEEEELLL!"

Arthur quickly walked to the nearest convenience store, bought a small bottle of Coca Cola, and hurried back. "Did it burn?" he asked as he shut the door.

Alfred shook his head from the table. "I don't know!"

Arthur set the soda on the counter and went over to check on the scones. Sure enough, they were burned. He sighed. It was like his oven was burning them on purpose or something. He placed one on a plate anyways and set it before Alfred. "There you go."

Alfred blinked before looking at him. "...Sorry I got 'em burned, Artie."

"It's not your fault." Arthur replied, smiling slightly.

Alfred groaned. "Yes it was! I'm sorry Artieeeee!" He walked over to the scone and examined it. "Can you...ugh...cut it or something?"

Arthur shook his head firmly and took the scone away. "It is not your fault, Alfred. I assure you that. And you don't have to eat that, it's probably toxic." he said with a glare in the direction of the oven.

Alfred shook his head. "No, just cut it!"

In response, Arthur chucked it into the trash bin, along with the rest of the batch. "No." He went over to the fridge. "Hmm...what do I have here..?" he murmured to himself.

"Hey! They were probably good, come on!"

"They weren't good, and we both know that." Yes, he knew his scones were bad, but he still kept up the hope that one day they would turn out right. Plus, he enjoyed torturing the other nations with them.

Arthur took out a jar and inspected it. He was pretty sure it was full of strawberry preserves. He glanced behind him to see if he had any bread left and was happy to see a baguette sticking out of his bread box. He pulled the jar out and shut the fridge.

"Not true! I didn't get to try them!"

"They were completely burned." Arthur cut some of the bread off, spread it with a generous amount of Irish butter, and then added a dollop of the preserves. He set that down before Alfred. "Have this instead."

Alfred looked at it, eyes lighting up a bit. "Can you...um cut it?"

Arthur nodded and cut a small piece off of it. "Here you go."

Alfred took it with a smile and quickly took a large bite. "Oh. M. Gee! It's really good!"

Arthur smiled and cut a piece for himself. "It's good, right? I steal the butter from my brother." He ate it and took a sip of tea, stifling a yawn on the way.

"Which one?"

"Ireland. Do you want some more?"

Alfred nodded eagerly. "Does he know?"

"Of course not. If he knew...heh, now _that_ would be a war. I can see the headlines now: 'UK Goes to War With Ireland Over Butter'." Arthur chuckled as he handed Alfred another small piece.

Alfred smirked, and held up a little first out for a fist bump. "Kudos!"

Arthur very carefully bumped it with his own fist. "Thank you. Now I must warn you, if you ever mention this to him, I'll curse you even worse than this."

"Challenge accepted." Alfred said, snickering.

Arthur poked him lightly. "Don't even think about it. Are you done?"

"Yes. Coke!"

Arthur reached over and grabbed the bottle, opening it carefully and pouring some into the cap. "Here you go." He set the cap down in front of him, and then took a small sip from the bottle. Immediately, he gagged and had to stop himself from spitting it out. "How can you stand that?!" he asked once he had painfully swallowed.

Alfred drank deeply. "It's good, isn't it?"

"Absolutely horrible. It might even be worse than coffee."

"What?! No way! It's awesome, what are ya talking about?!"

"It is most certainly not awesome." Arthur took the empty cap from him and placed the bottle in the fridge. "Come on, we're going to bed. I'm exhausted."

Alfred blinked. "Are you crazy?! It's like, 6 pm and my last day tiny! No way!"

"Then what do you want to do? At this point, you can do whatever you want to." Arthur would most likely be too tired to argue anyway.

Alfred looked around. "I- I don't know, what would you do if you were tiny?"

"Huh..." Arthur thought for a moment. "I suppose I would explore. Climb everywhere, including on a human or nation, just to see what it would feel like. And then I'd try to read, I guess." He shrugged.

Alfred smirked and jumped up and down. "I wanna climb!"

Arthur sighed. "I don't want you to fall off anywhere..." He picked him up and headed up to his bedroom, sitting down cross-legged by the bed and depositing Alfred in his lap. "Here you go. Don't fall now."

Alfred pouted, turning to him. "I already climbed around here!"

"We're staying in here." Arthur replied, glad he had closed the door on his way inside. He leaned his head back against the bed and closed his eyes.

Alfred huffed, climbing up onto his stomach. "Come on! I wanna go somewhere else! Artieeee!"

"Climb this stuff again." Arthur said, not moving.

Alfred jumped up and down on him. "No! C'mon Artie, don't sleep!"

"Alfred, I'm tired, my voice is sore, and I'd really just like to rest. Just go climb somewhere over there." He vaguely waved his hand in the direction of the closet.

Alfred blinked, looking there. He then looked down, awkwardly shuffling his feet. "...The cage is there..."

Arthur sighed and got up, holding Alfred against his stomach. He went over to the closet and took the cage out, placing it instead in his bathroom. "Now it's not." He set Alfred down and went back to the bed.

"Oi!" Alfred ran after him jumping onto his foot and holding onto his sock tightly before yelling, "Whoa! I'm on the monster's foot! Whoot!"

Arthur immediately stopped walking and reached down to pluck him off. "I'm not a monster, Alfred. Stop acting so childishly."

Alfred grabbed onto his finger. "Are too! And m'not a child, you're just being boring!"

"I am not." Arthur said quietly, his heart twisting slightly at the words. "Where do you want to climb, then?"

Alfred smiled, nuzzling his cheek against Arthur's finger. "Somewhere else!"

"Where?"

"...I dunno. Not here! Ugh...anywhere else?"

Arthur took him outside, where it was still light out. "Climb something here." He set him down and went over to sit in one of the patio chairs.

Alfred brightened up and started to look around. "Awesome!"

Arthur watched him emotionlessly, still a bit stung by the whole 'monster' comment. After a few moments, he moved his chair slightly to the left, into the shade, and closed his eyes again.

Alfred laughed as he moved around, even managing to climb a flower that was growing in the grass before the sun started to set. He turned to look at Arthur with a huge grin, which faded after a few seconds. "...Hey Artie!"

"Yes?" Arthur asked, not moving.

"...Are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine. Go back to climbing, we won't stay out much longer when the sun sets."

"...Artie, what's wrong?"

"Nothing is wrong, other then the fact I'm tired."

Alfred gulped. "Can you just tell me please?"

Arthur opened his eyes and smiled at him. "I'm fine. Really."

Alfred smiled softly back. "Then play with me!"

The smile faded. "Play what?" Arthur asked guardedly.

Alfred shrugged. "I dunno! Something cool." His smile grew wider, before he realized that Arthur's smile was gone. His left as well and he looked at the British nation worriedly. "...What's wrong?"

Arthur looked away. "Depends on what you want to 'play'."

Alfred blinked. "Why? What's up?"

"Nothing's up, I just refuse to play childish games with you, involving heroes or villains or monsters or the like."

Alfred blinked again before realizing what this was about. "Artie, I was just kidding."

"Of course you were." Arthur sighed softly and leaned back again, running a hand through his hair and messing it up even more.

"Seriously!" Alfred started to go over to him, before tripping and falling. "Ow! Shit..."

Arthur immediately shot up and went over to him. "Alfred, are you alright?" he asked worriedly, gently reaching out to touch him.

Alfred nodded, rolling onto his back. "Ow..."

"If you say 'ow', you're not alright." Arthur carefully picked him up and inspected him. "Where does it hurt?"

Alfred winced slightly. "My side, I fell on it...I'm fine." He smiled.

Arthur didn't smile back. "Come on, we're going inside." He walked into the kitchen and set him on the table before getting out some ice. "Lean on that." he instructed, placing the ice down next to him.

Alfred shook his head, moving away. "Artie I'm real sorry!"

"You have nothing to be sorry for." Arthur said, sitting down by the table and pushing the ice towards him. "Lean on it, it'll help."

Alfred shook his head stubbornly. "Artie! Seriously, I didn't say you were a monster, you aren't!"

Arthur looked down. "It's fine."

"Seriously!"

"I know. Besides, it's not the first time anyone's said it to me." He glanced at the clock. "It's nearly 8, we should go to bed now. You need to be well rested. The transformation can be a bit painful, and you'll need all your energy."

"What? Why, when?"

"Well, your whole body will be pulled apart and stretched. I imagine that to be quite painful. It'll help if you're not tired. Come on, let's go." Arthur stood and offered his palm.

"No, I mean you said it's not your first time or something."

"My brothers. As usual. Now get on."

Alfred frowned softly. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be. You learn to block out verbal abuse after a few centuries." Arthur said with a small, sad smile. He picked Alfred up and headed up to his room.

Alfred squirmed a bit. "I-It wasn't abuse! You- You're t-taller and...and it's the first thought that came to mind cuz your foot's big to me!"

"It wasn't abuse from you, but from them." He dropped Alfred onto the pillow and changed, coming back a few minutes later and slipping under the covers, careful not to hurt Alfred in the process.

Alfred waited until he came back. "I'm still sorry!"

"Alfred, you have nothing to apologize for." Arthur repeated, sighing.

Alfred fumbled with his sweater as he mumbled sorry again.

Arthur reached out and brought him closer to himself. "Alfred. Stop." he said forcefully.

Alfred fidgeted, looking up at him. He suddenly grinned. "Sorry."

Arthur rolled his eyes. "Say sorry one more time and I'll curse you again." he threatened.

Alfred paled slightly before laughing. "Sorry, sorry!"

"That's it. You're staying small for the rest of your life." Arthur growled, perfectly serious.

"Uh huh." Alfred laughed again, snuggling closer to him.

"I swear, I'll slip some more of that potion into your tea tomorrow." Arthur muttered, but held him close.

Alfred snickered. "I'm gonna have Coke tomorrow~!"

"The potion works with any drink."

"...Not my Coke, Artie!"

"We'll see. Now good night."

Alfred snuggled up to him. "Night."

The next morning, Arthur woke up first and slipped out of bed. He went downstairs and made himself some tea, taking Alfred's bottle of Coke along with him as we went back up.

Alfred was already awake and bouncing in the bed. "Artie-" He froze when he saw the bottle. "Did ya spike it?"

"No, it's potion-free." Arthur set the bottle down and filled the cap for him before moving the tiny nation to the table so he could drink.

Alfred did so, and the looked up at him. "...Ya never let me drink Coke this early Artie..."

"Let's just say today is an exception. Now, to be on the safe side, how about we just watch TV or a movie until you turn back?"

"Erm...when I do can I be in the bathroom or somethin'? Or will it just be a puff of smoke?" Alfred asked, awkwardly shifting in his place.

"It will be a puff of smoke. Don't worry, I won't see anything. The clothes you shrunk in should magically appear on you." He picked Alfred up and took him downstairs, placing him on the couch.

Alfred nodded. "Kay...what movie?" He looked from the TV to Arthur and back.

"I don't know. Just whatever's playing on TV, I guess?" Arthur slid the remote to him. "You can choose."

Alfred smirked and jumped onto a button, but he missed the 'on' button by just a little bit. "Oi!"

Arthur rolled his eyes and turned the TV on. "There you go."

Alfred's smirk returned and he started jumping on random combinations of numbers, searching for something good. "Artie, do you have a- hah- cartoon show or somethin'?"

"We have Cartoon Network here...but I don't know what channel it is. I don't watch such programs. You'd just have to go through everything and search for it."

Alfred groaned. "Can't you check or something?!"

Arthur sighed and got up, heading towards the cabinet by the TV. After rummaging around in it for a while, he found a directory of the TV channels. He flipped through it. "Let's se...History Channel, no...BBC, no...Animal Planet, no...TLC- what?! We have that trash here?! Ugh, definitely not...Ahh, here we go. Cartoon Network UK: Channel 98." he said.

"TLC isn't trash! It's hilarious! Anyways..." Alfred jumped onto the numbers, and SpongeBob popped up. His eyes shone for a minute before he sighed. "What channel is the History Channel?"

Arthur looked at him in surprise before skimming the book again. He paused when he saw the number, but then continued. "69. Channel 69." He went back to the couch, taking the booklet with him.

"Sixty nine?" Alfred snickered as he jumped onto the buttons, and plopped down on the remote as the documentary popped up.

"Shut up, I wasn't the one choosing the numbers." Arthur muttered as he settled deeper onto the couch.

"It's yooour country. And we go through history and stuff and it was sixty nine and..." He snickered again.

"Oh, shut it. You're nearly as bad as France." Arthur said, and then focused on the program. They stayed like that for hours, until, at about 11:30, he noticed Alfred start smoking again. He quickly reached over and picked him up, placing him on the floor well away from anything so he would be comfortable when he grew. He patted him lightly on the head with a fingertip one last time before turning off the TV and huddling back into the couch.

Alfred looked at him, confused and blinking. "Wha-" His eyes widened as he started to smoke more, and he started to grow more and more.

Arthur watched him until he was back to normal size, not really knowing what to expect now.

Alfred blinked again, fixing his glasses before looking down and realizing that the sweater had in fact stayed small. He was shirtless, but luckily had pants on, and the sweater was lying on the ground near his foot. He blushed rapidly before laughing and putting a hand behind his back. "Er...I guess it didn't work, huh?"

"Of course it worked. You're back to normal, are you not?"

"But the sweater!" Alfred reached down and picked it up before looking at Arthur. "...Do you have my shirt? Or jacket?"

"The sweater didn't change because it was originally the size it is now. The only way for it to be wearable for you would be to make a growing potion for it." Arthur explained. "And yes, your clothes are on my bed." He hesitated a moment. "You...you can just get them and leave now. I won't hold you any longer." He looked down and played with the stitching on the pillow.

Alfred blinked in surprise and looked down. "...Oh...okay...I guess." He felt a bit hurt that Arthur was kicking him out, but alright.

Arthur suddenly got up, not being able to bear the thought of watching Alfred cheerfully walking out, and slightly hurt that Alfred had forgotten about his declaration that he would hug him when he was back to normal size. He went into the kitchen and, without noticing it, started making a cup of coffee as well as a cup of tea. The smell of the coffee soon filled the house.

Alfred got upstairs and dressed slowly, kind of wanting to waste time. But when he smelled coffee, he blinked in surprise yet again and went downstairs. "Are ya making coffee?"

Arthur snapped out of his thoughts. He stared at the mug of coffee in his hand. "O-Oh...I guess I am." He placed the mug on the table. "You can drink it if you want."

Alfred smiled softly before frowning. "...I thought you were kickin' me out."

Arthur frowned as well, keeping his back to him. "I wasn't kicking you out. You merely said, out in the yard, that you wanted to leave. And I told you you could when you were back to normal. Well, you're back to normal now, so you may leave now if you want to." He put a lot of emphasis on the 'if you want to' part of the sentence.

Alfred frowned even more. "When in the yard did I say that?"

"When you ran out there...away from me...those two nights..."

Alfred fidgeted and looked down. "...I was mad then, Artie."

Arthur sighed softly and walked over to the counter where his tea was, still keeping his back to the American. "Still, you could leave whenever you want now. I'm not holding you against your will."

Alfred looked down before walking over to him and hugging him tightly from behind. "Sorry."

Arthur stiffened for a moment, but then smiled softly and relaxed into the embrace. "What do you have to be sorry for?"

"...Dunno, you're always mad at me." Alfred said, shifting his weight to his other foot.

Arthur slowly twisted around and lightly hugged him back. "I'm not _always_ mad at you..." he muttered into Alfred's shirt.

Alfred snickered softly. "Course, course."

"It's true!" Arthur let his arms drop to his sides.

Alfred rolled his eyes. "I never said no, did I?" He smirked. "Well, can I get my coffee? And can I stay for a bit?"

"Yes." Arthur slipped out from the hug and smiled. "You can stay for a while."

* * *

**A/N**: Ehhhh, bad ending is bad. My partner and I actually did have more written, but it was kind of just stretching it along and not really useful at all, so we just decided to cut it off at that point.

The lullaby that I had in mind for Arthur to sing to Alfred is 'Lullaby for a Stormy Night' by Vienna Teng. It's a really beautiful song, you all should check it out. I have a lot of songs in my head that would fit some of the Hetalia characters. XD

Irish butter is seriously like the best thing in the world. Especially Kerrygold Salted Butter. I'm kind of addicted to it, and I got my family and a friend to really like it as well.

Anyhow, thank you all who stuck with this angsty mess of a story to the end! I've decided, due to a number of factors, to change my update schedule to once a week, for now on Fridays. So the start of the next story I'm going to put up here will be posted next Friday. Until then, see ya~!


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